Invasive pneumococcal disease in children: geographic and temporal variations in incidence and serotype distribution

Abstract

We examined published studies from the United States, Europe, and Latin America to better understand geographic and temporal variability in the epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in young children. A comparison of IPD incidence levels reported for children Conclusion: factors that likely underlie a significant proportion of these apparent temporal and geographic differences include variability in blood culturing rates, in antibiotic resistance levels, and in the precise age distributions of the populations studied.