Changes in the Epidemiology of Pneumococcal Bacteremia in a Swiss University Hospital During a 15-Year Period, 1986-2000

To evaluate changes in epidemiological characteristics and outcome of patients with pneumococcal bacteremia during a 15-year period in a Swiss university hospital. We reviewed the medical records of all hospitalized adults at the University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, whose blood culture yielded Streptococcus pneumoniae from January 1, 1986, through December 31, 2000. We analyzed 405 episodes of pneumococcal bacteremia in 394 patients. The mean annual incidence of 1.78 episodes per 1000 hospital admissions was inversely related to the mean atmospheric temperature of the area. During the study period, penicillin nonsusceptibility increased from 0% to 17%. The overall case-fatality rate was 25%, which decreased from 33% to 17% between the first and the second half of the study period (P