Pneumococcal infection is a complex of diseases of bacterial etiology. It manifests itself as purulent-inflammatory processes in the lungs, respiratory and nervous systems. This terrible and dangerous disease occurs in people of different ages with weakened immunity. Every year, people die from treacherous pneumococcus in the world, because this particular microbe also causes sinusitis, meningitis, otitis media and sepsis.
It is difficult to cure the disease, since this microbe has a very dense membrane compared to other harmful microorganisms, which is difficult to destroy by our immune cells. In this regard, vaccination against pneumococcal infection is necessary. It is introduced into the body of a child at an early age, so that protective antibodies (macrophages) of the body can recognize microbes and break them down into fragments, thereby destroying pneumococcus.
The vaccine, as it were, teaches immunity to fight dangerous microorganisms. In newborn children, these antibodies are already present in the body, which are transmitted from the mother, but they last only a couple of months, then you need to administer a vaccine to protect the child.
How to catch a disease: transmission routes
Pneumococcal infection is ubiquitous: from Russia to America. There is a risk of infection everywhere. Kids can become infected in the hospital, as most people are just carriers of the microbe. It can be located both on the skin and in the nasopharynx. Unvaccinated children can get sick in kindergartens or schools, in crowded places.
In fact, this is the same respiratory infection that is transmitted in a similar way - airborne. It is enough for a healthy person to be near a patient who sneezes or coughs. Microbes instantly penetrate the mucous membrane and begin to attack our cells. But pneumococcus can also wait a long time for the right moment when a person gets sick, is too cold or will experience stress.
As soon as the immune system fails, pneumococcal infection makes itself felt. Penetrating into the circulatory system, the microbe often causes blood poisoning (sepsis), and also spreads to other tissues and organs, causing inflammation of the lungs, meninges, and middle ear.
How to identify the disease?
It is difficult for an ordinary person without a medical education to distinguish a common cold from pneumococcus, since they are similar in clinical manifestations. A bacterial infection can be suspected by a yellow-green discharge from the sinuses and a cough with purulent sputum. For an accurate diagnosis, it will be necessary to sow excreta and determine the sensitivity to antibiotics for the purpose of therapy.
Pneumococcal infection is treated only with antibiotics, these drugs completely inhibit and inhibit the vital activity of the microbe, as well as relieve the inflammatory process. However, pneumococcus is resistant to many drugs and difficult to treat. To protect a person from infection, a pneumococcal infection vaccine is introduced.
To date, the Prevenar and Pneumo-23 vaccines are used. The second vaccine is given to children over two years of age. The effect of this vaccine is approximately 5 years. "Prevenar" can be done to children older than 2 months. It has a longer effect.