title: Non-antibiotic treatment for pediatric outpatients with common cold inhibits the emergence of drug resistant pneumococci.
abstract: The occurrence of drug resistant Streptococcus pneurmoniae (S. pneumoniae) is very high in Japan. Unnecessary use of antibiotics had been thought to cause this problem but previous studies had not clearly showed that the decreasing rate of antibiotic use had been related to the reduction of the prevalence of resistant strains. In this study, we tried to prove that non-antibiotic treatment for common cold would reduce the antibiotic resistant S. pneumoniae in nasopharynx in children. Forty-five children with the common cold were randomly selected from pediatric patients who had taken antibiotics within the past three months. We collected nasopharyngeal swabs from all of the participants and once again after a period of 2 to 3 months without using any antibiotics. Twenty-four of these patients had the S. pneumoniae strains isolated. Then these strains were undergone a susceptibility test and drug-resistant gene detection. The susceptibility test reveled that patients with penicillin-resistant strains decreased from 17 to 7 (p < 0.01). The test also reveled that the decreased number of patients had strains that were resistant to cefditren. The gene detection revealed that none of the patients acquired a higher resistance to penicillin. Our study suggests that the treatment without antibiotics reduces the drug-resistant S. pneumoniae. Controlled antibiotic use in children might prevent children from carrying the antibiotic resistant S. pneumoniae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan. b-walk@fmu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takeyama
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katayose
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: Mitsuaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosoya
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003139:Common Cold / Q000628:therapy*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents