A low-cost approach to measure the burden of vaccine preventable diseases in urban areas.

We piloted a low-cost approach to measure the disease burden of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Hib and Salmonella Typhi by leveraging the existing infrastructure of high performing microbiology laboratories at two large paediatric hospitals in Dhaka Bangladesh, and assessing the hospital utilization of the catchment population of these hospitals for different syndromes. S. Typhi was the most common bacterium identified in culture and accounted for an estimated 211 hospitalizations per 100,000 children <5 years of age per year. Meningitis due to S. pneumoniae was the most common cause of mortality accounting for 8.0 deaths per 100,000 children <5 years of age per year. This low-cost approach can provide data to support vaccine introduction and the health impact of newly introduced vaccines.