Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Antibiotic-Resistant Pneumococci by Children in Group Day Care

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 157; no. 2; pp. 256 - 263
• Main Authors: Henderson, Frederick W., Gilligan, Peter H., Wait, Kimberly, Goff, David A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.02.1988; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Amoxicillin - pharmacology; Antibiotics; Antimicrobials; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Carrier State - microbiology; Cefuroxime - pharmacology; Child care; Child Day Care Centers; Child health services; Child, Preschool; Day care; Day care centers; Drug Combinations - pharmacology; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infant; Infections; Longitudinal Studies; Microbiology; Nasopharynx - microbiology; Original Articles; Otitis media; Penicillin; Penicillin Resistance; Pneumococcal Infections - microbiology; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Streptococcus pneumoniae - drug effects; Streptococcus pneumoniae - isolation & purification; Sulfamethoxazole - pharmacology; Trimethoprim - pharmacology; Trimethoprim Resistance; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination; Human; Prevalence; Day care center; Nasopharynx; Epidemiology; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Resistance; Streptococcaceae; Antibiotic; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Carrier; Child
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/157.2.256

We compared rates of antibiotic resistance in strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae recovered from nasopharyngeal secretions of a group of children studied longitudinally in a research day care center between 1978 and 1985 and recovered from usually sterile body fluids of patients at a tertiary care hospital between 1981 and 1985. The prevalence of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ) resistance was 11.5% in isolates from the hospital, whereas 30.0% of episodes of nasopharyngeal carriage of S. pneumoniae studied in day care children included TMP-SMZ-resistant isolates. The proportion of episodes of colonization with TMP-SMZ-resistant isolates in the day care study increased from 5.4 % before 1981 to 39% between 1981 and 1985. Isolates of S. pneumoniae relatively resistant (MIC ⩾0.125 μg/ml.) to penicillin G, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime accounted for 8% of isolates from the hospital and 11.9% of episodes of nasopharyngeal colonization in children in day care. Pneumococci with reduced susceptibility to either TMP-SMZ or a β-lactam antibiotic were recovered from 68% of 72 children in the day care study.