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Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in healthy Norwegian children attending day-care centres

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Abstract

An observational study to examine Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in Norwegian children was initiated after two cases of pneumococcal meningitis, caused by the England14-9 clone, occurred in one day-care centre in Oslo. All children recruited from the day-care centre where the cases occurred were vaccinated with a seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; the other participants who attended three other day-care centres nearby were not. The children were followed for 9 months, and three samplings took place. At the first visit, 45.7% of the children were colonised by pneumococci in the nasopharynx. The children harboured a variety of serotypes, with serotypes 6A, 23F, 6B and 19F being the most frequent. The numbers of children carrying vaccine serotypes decreased in both the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated groups. Thus, no significant effect of vaccine on carriage was detected in this relatively small study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank I.-L. Bergstrøm, G. Lermark, T. Alvestad and A. Klem for skilful technical assistance and E.-A.S. Andersen for monitoring the study. We also thank W. Lederle for providing vaccine for the study. Funding was provided by Norwegian Research Council grant 143253/310 to D.A.C. The experiments conducted comply with the current laws of Norway.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway

    M. K. R. Sogstad, I. S. Aaberge, E. A. Høiby, L. O. Frøholm, A. R. Alme & D. A. Caugant

  2. Linnerud legesenter, Erich Mogensøns vei 38, 0594, Oslo, Norway

    J. O. Sørdal

  3. Department of Oral Biology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    D. A. Caugant

Authors
  1. M. K. R. Sogstad
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  2. I. S. Aaberge
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  3. J. O. Sørdal
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  4. E. A. Høiby
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  5. L. O. Frøholm
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  6. A. R. Alme
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  7. D. A. Caugant
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. A. Caugant.

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Sogstad, M.K.R., Aaberge, I.S., Sørdal, J.O. et al. Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in healthy Norwegian children attending day-care centres. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 25, 510–514 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-006-0177-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-006-0177-0

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