M. Saarinen et al., SPECTRUM OF 2,836 CASES OF INVASIVE BACTERIAL OR FUNGAL-INFECTIONS INCHILDREN - RESULTS OF PROSPECTIVE NATIONWIDE 5-YEAR SURVEILLANCE IN FINLAND, Clinical infectious diseases, 21(5), 1995, pp. 1134-1144
In a prospective nationwide laboratory-based surveillance study of all
invasive bacterial and fungal infections among children <16 years of
age, 2,836 clinical cases were registered during the 5-year period 198
5-1989. Of these cases, 136 were polymicrobial. During the study perio
d, nationwide administration of Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugat
e vaccine reduced the incidence rates of invasive infection caused by
this organism. The most common clinical diagnosis (48% of cases) was b
acteremia without an identified focus of infection. The age-specific a
nnual incidence rates of all invasive infections in children less than
or equal to 15 years of age, in children less than or equal to 4 year
s of age, in children less than or equal to 1 year of age, and in chil
dren less than or equal to 28 days of age were 55.8, 141.4, 272.7, and
2,749.0 cases/100,000 person-years, respectively. Thirty percent of t
he children in the study had an underlying condition predisposing to i
nfection. The case-fatality rate was 4.1% for all cases of invasive in
fection.