Pneumococcal Diseases in India

Pneumococcal disease is the name given to a group of diseases caused by a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumoniae (also known as pneumococcus).

Pneumococcal Diseases in India

  • Pneumococcal disease is the biggest vaccine preventable cause of death in children under five, globally and in India.
  • Young children are at particularly high risk of developing severe pneumonia disease and death. More than 80% of deaths associated with pneumonia occur in children during the first 2 years of life.
  • Pneumonia affects children and families everywhere, but is most prevalent in the developing world in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Pneumonia continues to kill more children under five worldwide than any other single infectious disease.

Causes

Pneumonia is caused by a number of infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and fungi. The most common are:

  • Streptococcus pneumoniae – the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia in children;
  • Hib – the second common cause of bacterial pneumonia;
  • Respiratory syncytial virus – is the most common viral cause of pneumonia;
  • Pneumocystis jiroveci – responsible for at least one quarter of all pneumonia deaths in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected infants.

Diseases

  • Pneumococcal infections can lead to serious invasive diseases such as meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia, as well as milder but more common illnesses such as sinusitis and otitis media.

Pneumococcal Vaccine

  • WHO recommends the inclusion of PCVs in childhood immunization programme world-wide.
  • Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) was introduced by Govt. of India in 2017 in a phased manner across the most affected five states of India viz., Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
  • Thereafter, the PCV under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) has been expanded throughout the country.
  • The PCV is now an integral part of India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) and is available free of cost to the entire birth cohort.

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