In Vietnam, the Invasive Bacterial Vaccine Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance network of World Health Organization which identifies major pathogens causing bacterial meningitis has been implemented since 2012. This program utilizes realtime PCR for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn), Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) and Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) in children under 5 years of age suspected for bacterial meningitis. This work presents the positive rate and serotypes distribution of Spn from this program between 2018 and 2019.
540 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens of probable bacterial meningitis cases from 1 month to 59 months old were collected for identification of Spn, Nm and Hi by triplex direct rt-PCR. Positive samples for Spn were serotyped for 21 serotypes.
Total positivity rate of three pathogens was 6.5%, among which Spn was predominant (94.3%, n= 33), following by Nm (5.7%, n=2), and there was no Hi detected. PCV13-types account for 94.0%, of which 6A/B was the most prevalent serotype (54.5%, n=18).
Spn was the most common cause of pediatric bacterial meningitis in Southern Vietnam from 2018-2019. Majority of serotypes found are included in pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, which are not yet introduced in the national immunization schedule in Vietnam.