All issues > Volume 45(3); 2002

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 2002;45(3):346-353. Published online March 15, 2002.

Serogroup and Antimicrobial Resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolated from Oropharynx in Children Attending Day Care Center

Kyung Hyo KH Kim¹, Jong Eun JE Lee¹, Il Tae IT Whang¹, Kyung Ha KH Ryu¹, Young Mi YM Hong¹, Gyoung Hee GH Kim¹, Keun K Lee¹, Eun-Suk ES Kang², Ki-Sook KS Hong²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Ewha Woman's University, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, College of Medicine, Ewha Woman's University, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence Kyung Hyo KH Kim ,Email: kaykim@mm.ewha.ac.kr

Abstract

Purpose
: Penicillin- and multidrug-resistant S. pneumoniae poses a serious threat to clinicians because the rate of resistance of S. pneumoniae to penicillin in Korea has surged up to the world's highest level. This study was performed to assess the carriage rate, serogroups and antimicrobial susceptibility of S. pneumoniae isolated from oropharynx in children.
Methods
: From March to July 1998, 209 children under 5 years of age were recruited from five day care centers. The carriage rate for pneumococci was obtained. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined with the E-test and agar dilution methods. Serogrouping was performed on 48 of the pneumococcal isolates by the Quellung reaction.
Results
: The carriage rate of S. pneumoniae was 30.1%. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were available for 59 of the isolates. Sixty-six percent of isolates were not susceptible to penicillin, and multidrug-resistance was observed in 76.3% of the isolates. A high proportion of the penicillin-resistant strains showed associated resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, erythromycin, and oxacillin. The most prevalent oropharyngeal serogroups were 19, 6, 3, 23, and 29. Resistance of the pneumococcal isolates to penicillin was different according to the serogroups. All of the strains of serogroup 19, 23, and 29 was resistant to penicillin but 87.5% of serogroup 3 strains were susceptible to penicillin.
Conclusion
: The resistance rate of S. pneumoniae isolated from oropharynx in children was very high to penicillin and other antimicrobial agents. For the reduction of the drug-resistant rate of S. pneumoniae, clinicians should be required to be more judicious in their use of antimicrobial agents.

Keywords :S. pneumoniae, Colonization rate, Serogroup, Antimicrobial resistance