title: Epidemiology of invasive childhood pneumococcal infections in Greece.
abstract: A retrospective study was conducted to identify the epidemiologic characteristics of invasive pneumococcal infections among children <14 y of age in our geographic region. During a 5-y period, from 1995 to 1999, 590 cases of invasive pneumococcal infection were identified in Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece. The male to female ratio was 1.4:1 and 64% of patients were younger than 5 y of age. The overall annual incidence rate was estimated as 44/100,000 children <14y of age, whereas the incidence rate for children <5y of age was 100/100,000. The most common types of infections were pneumonia (472 cases; 133 definite and 339 probable), bacteraemia without focus (79 cases), and meningitis (33 cases). A seasonal variation of invasive pneumococcal infections was noted, with two peaks--one during spring and the other during autumn. Only two cases with meningitis died and one developed permanent neurological sequelae, representing a case-fatality rate for meningitis of 6%. Serogroups 14, 19, 6, 18, 23, 4 and 9 were the most prevalent, comprising 77% of 92 serotyped isolates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Invasive pneumococcal infections cause considerable morbidity in the paediatric population in the Athens metropolitan area. Sixty-six percent of the serotypes causing invasive pneumococcal disease in our region are included in the 7-valent conjugate vaccine.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Paediatrics, Athens University, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Greece. vsyriop@cc.uoa.gr
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Syriopoulou
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Daikos
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Soulis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michos
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alexandrou
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pavlopoulou
authors.lastname: Pagali IPA
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hadjichristodoulou
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Theodoridou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008586:Meningitis, Pneumococcal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D012703:Serotyping; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification