Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(2):121-125 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3744

Opportunity for Healthy Ageing: Lessening the Burden of Adult Pneumococcal Disease in Central and Eastern Europe, and Israel

Endre Ludwig¹, Serhat Ünal², Miron Bogdan³, Roman Chlíbek⁴, Yavor Ivanov⁵, Roman Kozlov⁶, Mark van der Linden⁷, Hartmut Lode⁸, Zsófia Mészner⁹, Roman Prymula¹⁰, Galia Rahav¹¹, Anna Skoczyńska¹², Ivan Solovič¹³, Esra Uzaslan¹⁴

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine No. II, Semmelweis Medical University, Budapest, Hungary

² Department of Internal Medicine, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Ankara, Turkey

³ Carol Davila University of Medicine, Bucharest and Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumophthisiology, Bucharest, Romania

⁴ Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defence, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

⁵ Pulmonology and Phthisiatry Clinic, University Hospital, Pleven, Bulgaria

⁶ Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Smolensk State Medical Academy, Smolensk, Russia

⁷ German National Reference Center for Streptococci, Department of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

⁸ Research Center of Medical Studies (RCMS), Institut für Klinische Pharmakologie, Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

⁹ National Institute of Child Health, Szent Laszlo Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Budapest, Hungary

¹⁰ University Hospital, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

¹¹ Infectious Disease Unit, Sheba Medical Centre, Tel Hashomer, Ramat-Gan, Israel

¹² National Reference Centre for Bacterial Meningitis, Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Microbiology, National Medicines Institute, Warsaw, Poland

¹³ Pulmonology Department in National Institute for TB, Lung Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Vyšné Hágy, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia

¹⁴ Department of Pulmonology, Uludag University Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey

The population of the Region (Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Israel) is ageing, necessitating preventative programmes to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle in older age groups. Invasive pneumococcal disease (including bacteremic pneumonia, bacteremia without a focus, and meningitis) has higher incidence, morbidity and mortality in older adults and is a substantial public health burden in the ageing population. Surveillance in the Region establishes a significant burden in older adults of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), which still appears to be under-estimated as compared with other countries, and this warrants an improvement in surveillance systems. The largest proportion of IPD in adults is bacteremic pneumonia. Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), largely attributable to S. pneumoniae, can be bacteremic or non-bacteremic; the non-bacteremic forms of CAP also represent a significant burden in the Region. The burden of pneumococcal disease can be reduced with programmes of effective vaccination. Recommendations on pneumococcal vaccination in adults vary widely across the Region. The main barrier to implementation of vaccination programmes is low awareness among healthcare professionals on serious heatlh consequences of adult pneumococcal disease and of vaccination options. The Expert Panel calls on healthcare providers in the Region to improve pneumococcal surveillance, optimize and disseminate recommendations for adult vaccination, and support awareness and education programmes about adult pneumococcal disease.

Keywords: invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Israel, pneumococcal vaccines, vaccination, elderly adults

Received: November 23, 2011; Revised: March 16, 2012; Accepted: March 16, 2012; Published: June 1, 2012  Show citation