Publication Date
7-7-2026
Journal
Microbiology Spectrum
DOI
10.1128/spectrum.04006-25
PMID
42223281
PMCID
PMC13340042
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
6-1-2026
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
Despite the increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease among pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients, pneumococcal colonization has not been evaluated in this population. We prospectively assessed longitudinal pneumococcal colonization in 22 pediatric HCT recipients from conditioning therapy to 100 days post-HCT. A higher likelihood of pneumococcal colonization was observed in the late post-HCT period (weeks 9-14) compared with the early post-HCT period (weeks 1-8), with odds increasing with each additional week after conditioning.IMPORTANCEThis is the first study to longitudinally evaluate pneumococcal colonization in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients from the onset of conditioning therapy to 100 days post-HCT. We found a higher likelihood of pneumococcal colonization in the late post-HCT period (weeks 9-14) compared with the early post-HCT period (weeks 1-8), with odds increasing with each additional week after conditioning. Despite study limitations, these findings provide foundational insight into early post-HCT colonization dynamics and highlight the need for larger studies to better understand the roles of antibiotic exposure and pre-HCT vaccination in reducing pneumococcal colonization.
Keywords
Humans, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pneumococcal Infections, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Male, Prospective Studies, Adolescent, Infant, Transplantation Conditioning, Longitudinal Studies, Streptococcus pneumoniae, colonization, hematopoietic cell transplant
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Olarte, Liset; Schuster, Jennifer E; Ahmed, Ibrahim; et al., "Pneumococcal Colonization in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation" (2026). Faculty, Staff and Students Publications. 7670.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/7670