Nasopharyngeal penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae strains among young children in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
A rapid increase of penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae has recently been reported in most areas of the world. Penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae and other resistant bacteria are the principal causes of recurrent acute otitis media (AOM). Penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae was examined so that we could investigate the bacteriologic and clinical interpretations of nasopharyngeal flora from healthy children.


METHODS
We obtained nasopharyngeal swab specimens from healthy children attending a day care center and from children attending a public health examination in Kanazawa, Japan. We also obtained clinical specimens from children with AOM who visited the Kanazawa University Hospital and 4 other hospitals in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan.


RESULTS
The chief bacteria from the children were S. pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. Penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae was identified in 75% of children attending a day care center. On the other hand, S. pneumoniae was identified in 37% of children who were not attending day care. Of the children with AOM, penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae was identified in 77%.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that there is a strong relationship between day care attendance and nasopharyngeal carriage of S. pneumoniae. The carriage rate of penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae in healthy children in day care centers was very high and similar to the carriage rate of young patients with AOM in Japan.
Ito
Makoto
M
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-8640, Japan. makoto@orl.m.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
Ito
Kazuko
K
Yoshizaki
Tomokazu
T
Nishimura
Toshiro
T
Miwa
Takaki
T
Furukawa
Mitsuru
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D009296:Nasal Cavity / Q000382:microbiology*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000382:microbiology; D010403:Penicillin Resistance; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*