Serotype distribution, antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular epidemiology of invasive in the nine-year period in Serbia.

is one of the leading bacterial pathogens that can cause severe invasive diseases. The aim of the study was to characterize invasive isolates of obtained during the nine-year period in Serbia before the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) into routine vaccination programs by determining: serotype distribution, the prevalence and genetic basis of antimicrobial resistance, and genetic relatedness of the circulating pneumococcal clones. A total of 490 invasive isolates were included in this study.