Pneumococcal infection is a complex of diseasesbacterial etiology. It is manifested by purulent-inflammatory processes in the lungs, respiratory and nervous system. This terrible and dangerous disease occurs in people of different ages with weakened immunity. Every year in the world people die from insidious pneumococcus, since this particular microbe causes still sinusitis, meningitis, otitis and sepsis.
It is difficult to cure the disease, since this microbein comparison with other harmful microorganisms a very dense shell, which is difficult to destroy by our immune cells. In this regard, vaccination is required from pneumococcal infection. It is introduced into the body of the child at an early age so that the protective antibodies (macrophages) of the body can recognize the microbes and split them into fragments, thereby destroying the pneumococcus.
The vaccine as it teaches the immunity to fight withdangerous microorganisms. In newborn children, these antibodies are already present in the body, which are transmitted from the mother, but they only last for a couple of months, then you need to inject the vaccine to protect the child.
How can you pick up the disease: the transmission route
Pneumococcal infection is found everywhere:from Russia to America. The risk of getting infected is everywhere. Babies can become infected in the hospital, since most people are just carriers of the microbe. It can be found both on the skin and in the nasopharynx. Unprovited children can get sick in kindergartens or schools, in places of large concentrations of people.
In fact, it is the same respiratory infection,which 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 into the mucosa and begin to attack our cells. But pneumococcus can and for a long time wait for the right moment, when a person gets sick, overcooled or will experience a stressful condition.
Once the immune system fails,pneumococcal infection makes itself felt. Penetrating into the circulatory system, the microbe often causes blood infection (sepsis), and also spreads through the rest of the tissues and organs, provoking inflammation of the lungs, the medulla, the middle ear.
How to identify the disease?
Usual person without medical educationit is difficult to distinguish a common cold from pneumococcus, because they are similar in clinical manifestations. To suspect a bacterial infection it is possible on allocation of a yellow-green color from nasal sinuses and a cough with a purulent sputum. For accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to make seeding of the secretions and determine the sensitivity to antibiotics for the purpose of therapy.
Pneumococcal infection is treated onlyantibiotics, these drugs completely depress and inhibit the vital activity of the microbe, and also remove the inflammatory process. However, pneumococcus is resistant to many drugs and is difficult to treat. To protect a person from infection, a vaccine is introduced against pneumococcal infection.
To date, vaccines are being usedPrevenar and Pnevmo-23. The second vaccination is done for children over the age of two. The effect of this vaccine is about 5 years. "Prevenar" can be done for children over 2 months. It has a longer lasting effect.
