http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Index ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 Childhood pneumonia and meningitis in the Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea in the era of conjugate vaccines: study methods and challenges http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:12910 3 months increased from 14.9 to 43.0% and 29.0 to 47.7% in cases and controls (both p < 0.001). Despite inclusion in the national immunization program in 2014, 2015 PCV13 three-dose coverage in cases and controls >3 months was only 4.0 and 6.5%. Conclusions: Recruitment of large numbers of pediatric pneumonia and meningitis cases and community controls in a third-world setting presents unique challenges. Successful enrolment of 998 cases and 978 controls with comprehensive clinical data, biological specimens and follow up was achieved. Increased vaccine coverage remains an ongoing health priority.]]> Wed 07 Apr 2021 14:01:07 AEST ]]> Limited impact of neonatal or early infant schedules of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination on nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Papua New Guinean children: A randomized controlled trial http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:12898 70% thereafter, with high-density carriage in 42% of pneumococcuspositive samples. We identified 63 different serotypes; 43% of isolates from controls were 13vPCV serotypes. There were no significant differences in 7vPCV serotype carriage between 7vPCV recipients and controls at any age (22% vs. 31% at 9 months, p = 0.2). At age 9 months the prevalence of non-7vPCV carriage was 17% higher in 7vPCV recipients (48%) than in controls (25%, p = 0.02). More non-7vPCV serotypes were isolated from ear discharge in 16 7vPCV recipients than from 4 controls (48% vs. 25%, p = 0.13). The limited impact of neonatal or accelerated infant 7vPCV schedules on vaccine serotype carriage is probably due to the early onset of dense carriage of a broad range of pneumococcal serotypes. While serotype-independent pneumococcal vaccines are needed in high-risk populations, the underlying environmental factors and sources of infection must be investigated.]]> Wed 07 Apr 2021 14:01:06 AEST ]]> The PneuCarriage Project : A multi-centre comparative study to identify the best serotyping methods for examining pneumococcal carriage in vaccine evaluation studies http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:11077 100 colonies from each sample). For the alternate serotyping methods, the overall sensitivity ranged from 1% to 99% (reference method 98%), and PPV from 8% to 100% (reference method 100%), when testing the spiked samples. Fifteen methods had ≥70% sensitivity to detect the dominant (major) serotype, whilst only eight methods had ≥70% sensitivity to detect minor serotypes. For the field samples, the overall sensitivity ranged from 74.2% to 95.8% (reference method 93.8%), and PPV from 82.2% to 96.4% (reference method 99.6%). The microarray had the highest sensitivity (95.8%) and high PPV (93.7%). The major limitation of this study is that not all of the available alternative serotyping methods were included. Conclusions: Most methods were able to detect the dominant serotype in a sample, but many performed poorly in detecting the minor serotype populations. Microarray with a culture amplification step was the top-performing method. Results from this comprehensive evaluation will inform future vaccine evaluation and impact studies, particularly in low-income settings, where pneumococcal disease burden remains high. © 2015 Satzke et al. *For a complete list of authors, please see acknowledgments in the published article.]]> Wed 07 Apr 2021 13:56:24 AEST ]]> Lack of effectiveness of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination against pneumococcal carriage density in Papua New Guinean infants http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:15610 Tue 04 Jan 2022 11:22:14 AEDT ]]> Distinct Streptococcus pneumoniae cause invasive disease in Papua New Guinea http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:17456 Thu 23 Mar 2023 11:41:15 AEDT ]]>