Vaccine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X

Volume 28, Issue 23, Pages 3875-4012 (21 May 2010)

Regular Papers
Surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease in 30 EU countries: Towards a European system?
Germaine Hanquet, Anne Perrocheau, Esther Kissling, Daniel Levy Bruhl, David Tarragó, James Stuart, Pawel Stefanoff, Sigrid Heuberger, Paula Kriz, Anne Vergison, Sabine C. de Greeff, Andrew Amato-Gauci, Lucia Pastore Celentano and the ECDC country experts for pneumococcal disease

Abstract
In this era of new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV), we described and compared surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and PCV policies in 30 European countries to provide guidance for Europe-wide surveillance. We confirmed the heterogeneity of surveillance systems and case definitions across countries but identified elements common to all countries, such as the availability of serotyping and the surveillance of pneumococcal meningitis. PCV impact was monitored in 11/15 countries using it. We propose steps for the monitoring of incidence rates and serotype distribution at EU level, to assess the need to introduce PCV and monitor its impact once introduced.