A role for Streptococcus pneumoniae in virus-associated pneumonia
Here we show, in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 37,107 fully immunized infants in Soweto, South Africa, that a 9-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PncCV, prevents 31% (95% confidence interval = 15–43%) of pneumonias associated with any of seven respiratory viruses in children in hospital. These data suggest that the pneumococcus has a major role in the development of pneumonia associated with these viruses and that viruses contribute to the pathogenesis of bacterial pneumonia.NOTE: In the version of this article originally published online, the species name was misspelled Streptococcus pnemoniae in the title of the article. The name should be Streptococcus pneumoniae. This error has been corrected for the HTML and print versions of the article.