Research

TITLE: Pan India Distribution of Pneumococcal Serotypes(PIDOPS) causing Invasive Pneumococcal Disease & Pneumonia in Children between 6 weeks to 5 years & their Antimicrobial Resistance. (2013-2016)

Sponsoring agency Pfizer, India Pvt Ltd

Project leader Dr. K L Ravi Kumar, Prof. Emeritus Department of Microbiology, KIMSH&RC

Year in which started 2013

Duration in months 24 months

Research Objectives

• Characterization of national and local trends.
• Establishing a baseline for monitoring IPD trends and seasonality.
• Monitoring impact of vaccines on disease.
• Tracking emerging strains and serotype replacement.
• Tracing antimicrobial resistance and temporal changes in the prevalence of pneumococcal isolates.

Research outcomes

The study emphasized the added value of molecular techniques over conventional methods in the identification of S.pneumoniae infection and typing, which is of importance from an epidemiological and a public health perspective. The project enabled in building homogeneity of surveillance across India by standardization of laboratory methods for diagnosis & characterization of S. pneumoniae.