Residual colonization by vaccine serotypes in rural South Africa four years following initiation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine immunization.

Background: We evaluated pneumococcal colonization in children and adults between the time of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) introduction in the immunization program in 2009 to two years after transitioning to PCV13 in 2011.

Methods: Community-based carriage surveillance was undertaken between May-November 2013 (Period-3), with similar surveys in 2009 (Period-1) and 2011 (Period-2). Households with children below two years had a similar probability of being sampled in all surveys. Nasopharyngeal swabs were processed using standard methods and serotyped by Quellung.

Results: In children>9-59 months old, overall pneumococcal colonization prevalence declined from 81.8% in Period-1 to 65.0% in Period-3 (p<0.001). Reductions of 70% (41.2% vs. 13.6%) in PCV7-serotypes colonization and 66% (15.3% vs. 4.4%) for the six additional PCV13-serotypes (PCV13-add6VT) were observed. There was, however, high residual colonization by PCV7-serotypes 19F (14.9% vs. 6.3%) and 23F (8.5% vs. 4.1%), despite reduction of 57% and 52%, respectively. Among individuals>12 years of age, there was 61% reduction in PCV7-serotype colonization (3.1% vs. 1.3%) and 75% decrease for PCV13-add6VT (2.1% vs. 0.6%) between Period-1 and Period-3.

Conclusions: The residual prevalence of serotypes 19F and 23F, four years after introducing PCV in the South Africa, suggests ongoing community transmission and transient vaccine effects.