Influenza and RSV make a modest contribution to invasive pneumococcal disease incidence in the UK

Emily J. Nicoli*, Caroline Trotter, Katherine M.E. Turner, Caroline Colijn, Pauline Waight, Elizbeth Miller

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    27 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Objectives: The common seasonality of incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and viral respiratory infections has long been recognized, however, the extent to which this affects the association between the pathogens is unknown. We have analysed weekly surveillance data of IPD, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), using ambient temperature and hours of sunshine as measures of seasonality. Methods: Reported cases of influenza, IPD and RSV, were collected in England and Wales, from week 1 (January) 1996 to week 23 (June) 2009. The associations between IPD and respiratory viral infections were analysed using several statistical methods, including correlation coefficients and both additive and multiplicative regression models. Results: 6-7.5% of cases of IPD are attributable to influenza and 3-4% attributable to RSV. Correlation coefficients reported considerably stronger associations between IPD and the viral infections compared to regression models. Conclusions: A small but potentially important percentage of IPD may be attributable to influenza and RSV when adjusted for seasonality by temperature. Jointly these viral infections may lead to over 10% of IPD cases. Therefore, prevention of viral respiratory infections may offer some additional benefit in reducing invasive pneumococcal infections.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)512-520
    Number of pages9
    JournalJournal of Infection
    Volume66
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2013

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by a Medical Research Council PhD studentship to EN.

    Keywords

    • Influenza
    • Invasive pneumococcal disease
    • Respiratory syncytial virus
    • Seasonality

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