Serotypes and antibiotic susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia in Italy

Pneumonia remain an important public health problem. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of community-acquired pneumonia that is attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection; secondary objectives were the description of community-acquired pneumonia attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae according to socio-demographic and clinical variables, the clinical evolution of community-acquired pneumonia and the description of the serotype distribution of vaccine-preventable disease and antibiotic resistance rate of pneumococcal infections.