A nationwide education program on pneumococcal disease has been
launched in Shanghai, said officials from China Preventive Medicine
Association yesterday.
Pneumococcal disease is a common threat to children, especially
babies and infants. It's spread by spitting and is caused by a
common bacterium which can attack different parts of the body and
result in bacterial pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis, ear
infections and sinusitis.
Cooperating with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, medical experts will
give courses to doctors and public education in big cities like
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing from now until
March next year.
According to the World Health Organization, about one million
children under five years old die of invasive pneumococcal diseases
in the world every year. About 49 children die of the disease in
Asia every hour.
Pneumonia is the top killer of Chinese children under five,
accounting for 19 percent of deaths between 1996 and 2000, a study
found. Pneumococcus is one of the leading causes of pneumonia.
"In addition to death, meningitis and otitis medium due to the
bacterium can also disable children, severely hampering their
quality of life," said Dr Yang Yonghong, director of China
Pediatric Association's respiratory disease branch. "Even a child
is healthy, he or she can be carrier of the bacterium."
A survey of 3,578 children in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou
between 2000 and 2002 found that 25 percent carried the bacterium
and 40 to 50 percent were resistant to penicillin, a major
treatment.
Experts said prevention and proper treatment were essential,
since early symptoms are similar to the common cold.
The first vaccine for pneumococcal disease is expected to be
available in China next year.
(Shanghai Daily August 21, 2007)