Serotypes of Pneumococci in Pneumonia, Meningitis and Other Pneumococcal Infections*

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Abstract
During 1965-1969 inclusive, pneumococci from 294 patients with acute pneumococcal infections were serotyped. Pneumococci of 33 serotypes were encountered, of which types 3 and 19 were most frequent. The spectrum of infections included pneumonia, meningitis, peritonitis, otitis media, mastoiditis, wound infection and conjunctivitis. At least 17 infections were fatal, all of which, with 1 exception, occurred either in infants or in adults over 50 yr of age. In pneumonia, type 3 pneumococcus was predominant, being isolated from 21 of 101 patients. In 67 cases of pneumococcal meningitis, most of which were in children; the most common type was 14. If a pneumococcal vaccine is produced for use in Australia, inclusion of serotypes 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 19 and 23 should be considered. These 8 types caused 52% of the cases of pneumonia and 67% of the cases of meningitis in this study.