Hospitalization For Invasive Pneumococcal Diseases In Young Children Before Use Of 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, Suzhou, China

A 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine against invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) was introduced in China in April 2017. We describe 105 children <5 years of age who were hospitalized for IPD at Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital in Suzhou, China, during January 2010-December 2017. We calculated the incidence of hospitalization for IPD as 14.55/100,000 children in Suzhou. We identified 8 different capsular serotypes: 6B (28.4% of cases), 14 (18.9% of cases), 19A (18.9% of cases), 19F (12.2% of cases), 23F (10.8% of cases), 20 (4.1% of cases), 9V (4.1% of cases), and 15B/C (2.7% of cases). These results provide baseline data of IPD before the introduction of this vaccine in China, enabling researchers to better understand its effects on IPD incidence.