Invasive pneumococcal disease - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2018

In 2018, 24 663 confirmed cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) were reported in the EU/EEA. The crude notification rate was 6.4 cases per 100 000 population, continuing the increasing trend observed since 2014. Age-specific rates were highest in adults aged 65 years or older (18.7 confirmed cases per 100 000population) and in infants under one year (14.4 confirmed cases per 100 000 population), with higher rates reported in males than females. The 10 most common serotypes were 8, 3, 19A, 22F, 12F, 9N, 15A, 10A, 23B and 6C (in order of decreasing frequency), accounting for 70% of typed isolates.Of all the cases under five years of age, 75% were caused by a serotype not included in any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). Among cases aged 65 years and over, 73% were caused by serotypes included in the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine and 29% were caused by serotypes in the 13-valent PCV.