title: Haemophilus influenzae type b colonization in children in a hospital-based day care center.
abstract: We sought to assess the effect of day care center (DCC) attendance and parental health care work environment on the prevalence of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) pharyngeal colonization in children in Turkey. Children of health care workers were evaluated by nasopharyngeal culture specimens obtained prior to enrollment at a hospital-based DCC at Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty (CMF-DCC) and then again after 3 months of attendance. A larger cohort from this same DCC was evaluated after 6 months of attendance and compared to a group of children of non-health care workers enrolled in Bahcelievler-DCC. As is standard of care in Turkey, none of these children had received the Hib vaccine. Fifty children of health care workers were evaluated prior to their enrollment and then again after 3 months at CMF-DCC. The incidence of Hib carrier state at enrollment was 4% and increased to 22% after 3 months at the DCC. To assess the affect of parental health care employment on Hib carriage rates, 103 children from CMF-DCC and 40 children of non-medical families at Bahcelievler-DCC were evaluated. Hib carrier state was identified in 40.7 and 47.5% after more than 6 months of attendance at CMF-DCC and Bahcelievler-DCC, respectively. No significant difference was observed between carriage rates of children coming from medical and non-medical families and the average carriage rate was 42.6% when duration of day-care attendance exceeded 6 months. Our results demonstrate that Hib carriage rates are affected by the duration of DCC attendance. Parents' employment in a health care facility does not affect carriage rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty Day-Care Center, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Turkey.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akçakaya
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Camcioğlu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belbek
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eşkazan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cokuğraş
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D019741:Haemophilus influenzae type b / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology