Pneumococcal disease has a significant impact on the healthcare resources in the UK. However, awareness of the disease remains low. The Impact of Pneumococcal Disease fact sheet is an initiative designed to raise awareness of the prevalence of pneumococcal disease and the increasing burden on NHS in the future.

Prevalence

Pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of illness and death.
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a bacterial pathogen that colonises the upper respiratory tract and can cause two main types of disease:

• Non-invasive disease (e.g. pneumonia, otitis media and sinusitis)
• Invasive pneumococcal disease (e.g. bacteraemia and meningitis)

In the UK there are up to 500,000 adult cases of pneumonia each year of which an estimated 42% are due to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection.

Pneumonia Mortality

The UK has one of the highest pneumonia mortality rates in the whole of Europe. In 2008, pneumococcal disease killed up to 12,750 people in the UK over the age of 65. These figures are comparable to colon cancer, which killed 10,188 people.

Invasive Pneumococcal Disease

Pneumococcus is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia in adults of all ages, with a mortality rate of 20-30% despite intensive care and effective antibiotic therapy.

The Growing Burden

The number of hospital admissions for community acquired pneumonia (CAP) has more than doubled since 2002/3.

Substantial cost savings could be made by strategies to prevent CAP, to reduce the requirement for hospital admission and to shorten the length of hospital stay.

>>Download the Impact of Pneumococcal Disease Fact Sheet <<