effect of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine on pharyngeal colonization in healthy children under 5 years of age

ABSTRACT

Streptococcal pneumonia is one of the most common pathogens that cause otolaryngological diseases [otitis media, sinusitis, tonsillitis] and other invasive diseases such as pneumonia, so that decreasing the pharyngeal carriage of pneumococci will eventually decrease the occurrence of these common diseases and hence decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with these diseases. Are to evaluate the pharyngeal carrier rate of pneumococci in healthy children and to demonstrate the effect of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine on pneumococcal pharyngeal carriage. This prospective study was carried on 100 healthy children under 5 years of age. They were divided into two groups, the control group consisting of 65 children, throat swabs were taken for them, and the vaccinated group consisting of 35 children which received 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine and throat swabs were taken 1 and 6 months after vaccination. The pharyngeal carriage of pneumococci in the control group was 60% while in the vaccinated group was 8.6%. 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is significantly effective in decreasing the pharyngeal carriage of pneumococci