Pneumococcal disease: Closing the gap

Today, India is home to 99 million elderly people. By 2050, the number of elderly in this country will have gone up to 300 million. With an increase in life expectancy from 32 years at the time of independence to 67.14 years in 2012, 10% of the population finds itself labeled as and lsquo;senior citizen'. Inevitably, age brings with it comorbidities, immune senescence and pneumococcal disease. Pneumonia, in deference to its considerable morbidity and mortality, was exalted by Sir William Osler to its dubious pedestal of and ldquo;Captain of all these Men of Death and rdquo;. Unsurprisingly, immune debility and in several regions of the planet increasing antibiotic resistance, have ensured that pneumococcal pneumonia continues to take a large toll of senior citizens. Death rates have hardly budged over the last three decades.