The harm of pneumonia in children to the body

The combination of pneumococcus and influenza virus will cause greater harm to children! At the "One Minute to Prevent Pneumococcal Disease in Children" public welfare activity for parents of infants and young children, supported by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and initiated by the Chinese Association of Preventive Medicine yesterday, Professor Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that in this special winter when influenza is prevalent, it is more meaningful to get vaccinated against pneumococcus.

Pneumococcal disease seriously threatens the health of infants and children under the age of 2, and may cause infectious diseases with serious consequences such as pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia, otitis media, as well as serious consequences such as respiratory failure and myocardial damage, and even death. Among all diseases currently preventable by vaccines, pneumococcal disease is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 worldwide.

The latest data from China released at the International Conference on Antimicrobial Drugs and Resistance shows that the bacterial strains that cause pneumococcal disease are changing and their resistance to commonly used antibiotics (erythromycin and penicillin) is increasing. Currently, the erythromycin resistance of pneumococcal serotype 6 in China has even reached 100%. Professor Li Song, a well-known pediatric expert, is worried that these results show that antibiotics that were previously effective against pneumococci are no longer effective.

In the face of the disease-prone season in autumn and winter and the difficulty in treating pneumococcal diseases, experts advocate that "prevention is better than cure" in dealing with pneumococcal diseases. Professor Zeng Guang said that pneumococcal diseases can occur all year round, and currently vaccination with pneumococcal vaccines is the most effective means of prevention. In particular, infants and young children under the age of 2 are not currently vaccinated against influenza A, but vaccination with pneumococcal vaccines can reduce complications such as pneumonia or severe pneumonia that may be caused by influenza, reducing parents' "worries".