title: Pharmacotherapy for pneumococcal infections: an update.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The management of pneumococcal diseases still places a significant burden on medical and economic resources. The subjects at greatest risk of pneumococcal infections are children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of this review is to analyse the best current therapeutic approach to pneumococcal resistance, taking into account the level of susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae, and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of different antibiotics in the various pneumococcal diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Antibiotic treatment of a number of pneumococcal diseases remains difficult or impossible due to the presence of strains resistant to commonly used antibiotics. In children the problem is significantly more important than in adults due to the reduced number of licenced drugs for subjects in the first years of life. The new conjugate pneumococcal vaccines containing 10 (PCV10) and 13 serotypes (PCV13), which include most of the recently emerging strains, might reduce the incidence of pneumococcal infections and the circulation of resistant pathogens. However, it is likely that optimal results will only be reached after the development of effective vaccines based on conserved proteins that are capable of preventing all pneumococcal infections, regardless of the serotype of the causative organism.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Clinic 1, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Commenda 9, 20122 Milano, Italy. susanna.esposito@unimi.it
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Principi
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008581:Meningitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D018805:Sepsis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: C538863:10-valent pneumococcal vaccine; C538862:13-valent pneumococcal vaccine; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate