Pneumococci are commonly carried asymptomatically in the nasopharynx, especially in children. Pneumococci are also one of the major bacterial pathogens causing both severe infections and non-severe infections in both children and adults. The most severe ...

Background Since the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, vaccine type pneumococcal carriage and disease has decreased world-wide. The aim was to monitor changes in the nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococci, the distribution of serotypes ...