Pneumococcal Pneumonia in Hospitalized Children: 2017–2023
Eric E. Engstrom·Kristina G. Hultén·Pia S. Pannaraj·Tina Q. Tan·Kacy Ramirez·Lindsay R. Grant·Adriano Arguedas·Maria J. Tort·Ashley Miller·Alejandro Cané·Philana Ling Lin·Steven Dahl·John S. Bradley·Sheldon L. Kaplan·Jennifer Dien Bard·William J. Barson
OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that the incidence, clinical presentation, isolate serotypes, and isolate antibiotic susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae causing pneumonia in children varied before and through the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS Patients aged 18 years or younger at 8 children’s hospitals in the United States admitted with culture-positive pneumonia were identified. Serotyping of pneumococcal isolates was performed at a central research laboratory. Clinical and laborato