Meeting the challenge: Prevention of pneumococcal disease with conjugate vaccines

streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the leading causes of both invasive and noninvasive diseases in the pediatric population and continues to represent a significant public health burden worldwide. The increasing incidence of antibioticresistant strains of the pathogen has complicated treatment and. management of the various pneumococcal disease manifestations. Thus, the be st management strategy may be the prevention of pneumococcal diseases throu gh vaccination. Although several pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have been clinically studied in infants and children, only a 7-valent conjugate vacci ne (PNCRM7; Prevnar (R) /Prevenar (R)) is currently approved for the preven tion of invasive disease. Vaccination with PNCRM7 is safe and effective in infants and young children. Routine vaccination with the conjugate vaccine could improve outcomes by safeguarding against the development of antibioti c-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae, thus simplifying the management of pn eumococcal disease. Additionally, the overall costs associated with the tre atment of pneumococcal diseases could be substantially reduced, particularl y in developing countries. The time has come for fully applying this new ad vancement against S. pneumoniae, to benefit the children of the world. The Spanish version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/ind ex.html.