{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T15:53:23Z","timestamp":1781711603074,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Microbiology Society","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781654400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                    remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially among children under 5\u2009years of age. The introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) has significantly reduced invasive pneumococcal disease globally. Ghana introduced routine immunization with PCV13 in 2012; however, its impact on pneumococcal carriage at the genomic level remains largely unexplored. This is the first genomic characterization of pneumococcal carriage in Ghana post-PCV13 introduction; in the absence of a matched pre-vaccination genomic dataset, findings are interpreted in the context of the post-vaccination era rather than as a direct pre\u2013post-comparison. We identified substantial genomic diversity among carriage isolates, including 49 Global Pneumococcal Sequence Clusters (GPSCs) and 67 sequence types (STs), of which 21 STs were novel, and 4 were international Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network clones (Spain9V-3, Greece6B-22, NorwayNT-42 and Sweden15A-25). GPSC 5 (14%) was the most prevalent cluster, followed by GPSC 20 (6%). GPSCs associated with antibiotic resistance (GPSCs 1, 6 and 10) represented 2%, 3% and 2% of isolates, respectively. Importantly, we observed a significant decline in vaccine serotypes (VTs) and a corresponding rise in non-vaccine serotypes (NVTs), notably serotypes 23B and 15BC. Additionally, VTs demonstrated higher levels of antibiotic resistance compared to NVTs (\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    &lt;0.05). This study provides the first genomic epidemiological insights into pneumococcal populations in Ghana post-PCV13 introduction and underscores the importance of continuous genomic surveillance to monitor serotype replacement and antibiotic resistance trends.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1099\/mgen.0.001734","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T15:16:51Z","timestamp":1781709411000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Genomic surveillance of post-immunization pneumococcal carriage in Ghana"],"prefix":"10.1099","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8723-2271","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuel A.","family":"Akwetey","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Microbiology, School of Medicine, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Standford","family":"Kwenda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Healthcare-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease, Johannesburg, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Humphrey P. 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