Hospitals count cost of pneumo disease

IT costs hospitals around €147,000 a day to treat patients with pneumococcal disease, according to a new campaign urging people at risk to get vaccinated against the infection.

The average annual cost of hospitalisation for pneumococcal disease is €54 million but the human cost is much greater. Around five people die every day from pneumonia.

The Know Pneumo Campaign points out the pneumococcal vaccine takes the form of a single dose for most people and can be given together with the annual flu vaccination.

Pneumococcal disease is an umbrella term for a range of illnesses caused by the bacterium, streptococcus pneumonia, commonly called the pneumo bug.

The pneumo bug can cause serious infection of the lungs (pneumonia), brain (meningitis) and the bloodstream (septicaemia). The disease is spread via droplets from the nose, mouth and throat by coughing, sneezing or kissing.

While everyone is at risk of getting pneumococcal disease, the risk increases with age. Between 2000 and 2004 around 4,629 people over the age of 65 died from pneumococcal infections.

It is recommended everyone aged 65 and over and individuals aged two and over with at-risk conditions should be vaccinated.

The campaign is supported by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, a joint venture between Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi-Aventis and Merck and Co.

Leaflets have been produced for people with diabetes and heart problems.

The leaflets have been endorsed by the Diabetes Federation of Ireland and Irish Heart Foundation (IHF).

Around 200,000 people are known to have diabetes in Ireland while heart disease caused around 5,400 deaths in Ireland in 2004.

IHF medical director Dr Brian Maurer said people with heart conditions, particularly heart failure, were more likely to contract pneumococcal disease and should be vaccinated.

Managing director of the Diabetes Federation of Ireland, Kieran O’Leary, said all people with diabetes should get vaccinated.