Temporal analysis of invasive pneumococcal clones from Scotland illustrates fluctuations in diversity of serotype and genotype in the absence of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

In September 2006, the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7; Prevenar) was introduced into the childhood vaccination schedule in the United Kingdom. We monitored the population of invasive pneumococci in Scotland in the 5 years preceding the introduction of PCV7 by using serogrouping, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and eBURST analysis. Here, we present a unique analysis of a complete national data set of invasive pneumococci over this time. We observed an increase in invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) caused by serotypes 1, 4, and 6 and a decrease in serogroup 14-, 19-, and 23-associated disease. Analysis of sequence type (ST) data shows a significant increase in ST306, associated with serotype 1, and a decrease in ST124, associated with serotype 14. There have also been increases in the amounts of IPD caused by ST227 (serotype 1) and ST53 (serotype 8), although these increases were not found to reach significance (P = 0.08 and 0.06, respectively). In the course of the study period preceding the introduction of PCV7, we observed considerable and significant changes in serogroup and clonal distribution over time.