Pneumococcal bacteremia and pneumonia often require hospitalization for treatment. Symptoms Symptoms vary according to the age of the child and whether the child has meningitis, bacteremia, pneumonia, or otitis media. If you think your child may have a serious infection, see your health care provider right away. Pneumonia causes fever, difficulty breathing, cough, chest pain, loss of appetite, and possibly excessive sleepiness. Meningitis causes fever, sleepiness or irritability, headache, vomiting, seizures, and loss of consciousness.
Bacteremia causes fever and chills, and possibly sleepiness and loss of appetite.
Otitis media causes ear pain, trouble hearing and sometimes fever. The bacteria spreads from person to person through secretions from the nose, mouth and throat. Although the bacteria can spread from person to person in this way it does not usually cause disease in contacts of persons with pneumococcal infection and no special treatment of contacts of persons with pneumococcal infection is necessary. Diagnosis and treatment Pneumococcal infection is diagnosed by examining the child and taking samples of blood or spinal fluid for culture. An x-ray usually will show pneumonia.