No temporal association between influenza outbreaks and invasive pneumococcal infections

Toschke, Andre Michael; Arenz, Stephan; Kries, Wolfram and Weigl and Heininger, Ulrich (2008): No temporal association between influenza outbreaks and invasive pneumococcal infections. In: Archives of Disease in Childhood, Vol. 93, No. 3: pp. 218-220

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether the influenza peak in populations precedes the annual peak for invasive pneumococcal infections (IPI) in winter.Design: Ecological study. Active surveillance data on influenza A and IPI in children up to 16 years of age collected from 1997 to 2003 were analysed.Setting: Paediatric hospitals in Germany.Patients: Children under 16 years of age.Results: In all years under study, the influenza A season did not appear to affect the IPI season (p = 0.49). Specifically, the influenza peak never preceded the IPI peak.Conclusion: On a population level there was no indication that the annual influenza epidemic triggered the winter increase in the IPI rate or the peak of the IPI distribution in children.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Medicine
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Language: English