2704. Molecular Technology to Detect Pneumococcal Colonization in Young Children Reveals Increased Prevalence of Vaccine Serotypes as Compared with Enhanced Culture Methods

Abstract

BackgroundHuman challenge studies demonstrate enhanced sensitivity of molecular technology for identification of vaccine serotype pneumococcal (SP) carriage in PCV13 immunized adults. We hypothesized that PCV13 immunized children would similarly harbor vaccine serotypes in their nasopharynx (NP) that could only be identified by molecular technology.MethodsWe compared use of enhanced microbiologic culture vs. molecular technology to characterize SP colonization among NP swabs collected from 995 healthy or sick children <5 years old at Boston Medical Center from November 2015 to May 2017. NP specimens were broth enriched for 4 hours and cultured on selective blood agar. Specimens were evaluated for presence of SP using both routine microbiologic methods and RT–PCR. RT–PCR assays targeted the lytA, and piaB (SP membrane permease) genes, and 26 SP serotypes: all serotypes included in 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and 13 prevalent non-vaccine serotypesResultsA total of 162 (16.3%) NP specimens were positive for SP via enhanced culture, and an additional 163 (16.3%) were SP positive via lytA+ RT–PCR molecular technology. Prevalence of SP carriage was equivalent in children aged 0<2 years and 2≤5 years, but greater in children with respiratory tract infections (RTI) compared with children without RTI (26.5% vs. 9.6% among culture+ specimens only; and 43.2% vs. 25.8% among combined culture+ and molecular+ specimens). Using enhanced culture only, vaccine serotypes (VST) were identified in 4 (1%) of 450 children <2 years and 14 (2.6%) of 545 children 2 ≤5 years; adding molecular positive specimens increased the prevalence of VST to 2.9% in children <2 years and 4.6% in children 2 ≤5 years (table). Serotypes 3 and 19A were the two most commonly identified VST.ConclusionCombining molecular technology with enhanced culture reveals an increased prevalence of vaccine serotype colonization in young children. The ability of sensitive molecular methods to detect vaccine serotypes in culture-negative specimens suggests low-density vaccine serotype carriage persists in a highly immunized pediatric population. The importance of culture negative but RTPCR positive carriage for transmission requires further evaluation. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.