title: Determination of phenotypes and pneumococcal surface protein A family types of Streptococcus pneumoniae from Malaysian healthy children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is limited information about pneumococcal carriage among healthy children in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence rate, serotype distribution, susceptibility pattern, and pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) family types of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in the nasal carriage of children 5 years old or younger in three day care centers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nasal swabs were collected from 195 healthy children, age 5 years or younger, from June to December 2010. S pneumoniae was identified by phenotypic and genotypic methods. The serotyping was performed using Pneumotest kit (Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark) and the susceptibility pattern was determined by using the E-test method (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden). PspA family typing was done using polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  S pneumoniae was found in the nasal carriage of 35.4% of children (69 of 195) and penicillin resistance was found in 23.2% (16 of 69). Among the 69 isolates, multidrug-resistant S pneumoniae (MDRSP) was present in 20.3%. All 16 penicillin-resistant S pneumoniae (PRSP) isolates were resistant to erythromycin and 14 PRSPs (87.5%) were resistant to co-trimoxazole. The six most common serotypes were 6A, 23F, 19A, 6B, 19F, and 15C, which were found in 87% of all isolates. Of the 69 isolates, 24.6% belonged to PspA family 1, 71.0% to PspA family 2, and 4.3% to PspA family 3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Twenty-eight of the isolates (40.6%) belonged to serotypes included in the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines (PCV) 7 and 10, whereas 48 (69.5%) were included in PCV13. The high rate of PRSP and MDRSP supports the need for continuing surveillance of pneumococcal carriage. The major PspA families were 1 and 2 (95.7%), thus making them suitable candidates for future vaccines.
authors: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors: Masura Mohd
authors: MM
authors: Yatim
authors: Siti Norbaya
authors: SN
authors: Masri
authors: Mohd Nasir Mohd
authors: MN
authors: Desa
authors: Niazlin Mohd
authors: NM
authors: Taib
authors: Syafinaz Amin
authors: SA
authors: Nordin
authors: Farida
authors: F
authors: Jamal
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012703:Serotyping; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C051592:pneumococcal surface protein A