PLoS medicine
The most recent articles from:
PLoS Med.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Use of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein to evaluate vaccine efficacy against pneumonia.
Pneumonia remains the leading cause of death in young children. The poor specificity of chest radiographs (CXRs) to diagnose pneumococcal pneumonia may underestimate the efficacy of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in preventing pneumococcal pneumonia. ⋯ C-reactive protein and procalcitonin improve the specificity of CXR to diagnose pneumococcal pneumonia and may be useful for the future evaluation of the effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in preventing pneumococcal pneumonia.