AUTHOR=Chaguza Chrispin , Senghore Madikay , Bojang Ebrima , Lo Stephanie W. , Ebruke Chinelo , Gladstone Rebecca A. , Tientcheu Peggy-Estelle , Bancroft Rowan E. , Worwui Archibald , Foster-Nyarko Ebenezer , Ceesay Fatima , Okoi Catherine , McGee Lesley , Klugman Keith P. , Breiman Robert F. , Barer Michael R. , Adegbola Richard A. , Antonio Martin , Bentley Stephen D. , Kwambana-Adams Brenda A. TITLE=Carriage Dynamics of Pneumococcal Serotypes in Naturally Colonized Infants in a Rural African Setting During the First Year of Life JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2020.587730 DOI=10.3389/fped.2020.587730 ISSN=2296-2360 ABSTRACT=

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) carriage precedes invasive disease and influences population-wide strain dynamics, but limited data exist on temporal carriage patterns of serotypes due to the prohibitive costs of longitudinal studies. Here, we report carriage prevalence, clearance and acquisition rates of pneumococcal serotypes sampled from newborn infants bi-weekly from weeks 1 to 27, and then bi-monthly from weeks 35 to 52 in the Gambia. We used sweep latex agglutination and whole genome sequencing to serotype the isolates. We show rapid pneumococcal acquisition with nearly 31% of the infants colonized by the end of first week after birth and quickly exceeding 95% after 2 months. Co-colonization with multiple serotypes was consistently observed in over 40% of the infants at each sampling point during the first year of life. Overall, the mean acquisition time and carriage duration regardless of serotype was 38 and 24 days, respectively, but varied considerably between serotypes comparable to observations from other regions. Our data will inform disease prevention and control measures including providing baseline data for parameterising infectious disease mathematical models including those assessing the impact of clinical interventions such as pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.