Abstract
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the most common respiratory pathogen worldwide. Nasopharyngeal carriage with S. pneumoniae is the major source of lower respiratory tract infection and horizontal spread among children. Investigating nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae is crucial for clinicians to control pneumococcus disease. Here, we retrospectively analyzed clinical information of 5,960 hospitalized children, focusing on pneumonia children less than five years with positive nasopharyngeal pneumococcal cultures. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) were collected between June 2009 and December 2016, which were outside the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine(PCV) period. NPAs were subjected to common bacterial culture and antibiotic susceptibility tests, and serotypes were identified by both multiplex PCR and DNA sequencing. Results clearly revealed that clinical manifestations of the children whose NPAs were S. pneumoniae culture positive were serious, especially in those less than twelve months old. Fifteen different serotypes of nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae were detected, the most common ones being 19F (35.2%), 6A/B (23.8%), 19A (11.4%), 15B/C (9.3%) and 23F (7.8%). Eight serotypes, accounting for 85.5% of the isolates, corresponded to the PCV13 serotypes. Approximately one-third of all S. pneumoniae strains were susceptible to penicillin. Overall, we consider nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae culture is beneficial in assessing the situations of pneumonia children. Moreover, PCV13 could be useful in preventing pneumococcal disease in Chongqing, China.
Highlights
Streptococcus pneumonia is a significant human pathogen that can cause pneumonia, otitis media, septicemia and meningitis, and constitutes an important cause of death among children under the age of five years[1]
Series of clinical data were compared between nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae culture-positive and -negative cohorts of a range of ages, grouped as less than 12 months (m), 13–36 m and 37–59 m (Table 1)
S. pneumoniae can colonize the nasopharynx at low density without causing symptoms in healthy children, and are less likely to be detected by culture methods[10,11]
Summary
Streptococcus pneumonia (pneumococcus) is a significant human pathogen that can cause pneumonia, otitis media, septicemia and meningitis, and constitutes an important cause of death among children under the age of five years[1]. Nasopharyngeal carriage with S. pneumoniae can be a reservoir of lower respiratory tract (LRT) infection, and is a major prerequisite towards the development of pneumococcal diseases[2,3,4,5]. Ongoing surveillance of nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae characteristics is, a significant source of epidemiological information. The characteristics of nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae strains of pneumonia children are summarized here, which should be an important resource for clinicians as well as for local and national immunization programs
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call