title: Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in healthy Norwegian children attending day-care centres.
abstract: An observational study to examine Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in Norwegian children was initiated after two cases of pneumococcal meningitis, caused by the England(14)-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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: M K R
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sogstad
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Aaberge
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Sørdal
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Høiby
authors.forename: L O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Frøholm
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Alme
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Caugant
mesh_terms: D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012574:Schools; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae