All issues > Volume 47(6); 2004

Original Article

Korean J Pediatr. 2004;47(6):611-616. Published online June 15, 2004.

Epidemiological Study of Pneumococcal Nasal Carriage and Serotypes Among Korean Children

Sun Mi SM Kim¹, Jae Kyun JK Hur¹, Kyung Yil KY Lee¹, Young Kil YK Shin², Su Eun SE Park³, Sang Hyuk SH Ma⁴, Ahn Youn AY Min⁵, Jin Han JH Kang¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Korea
²Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Korea University, Korea
³Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Busan National University, Korea
⁴Department of Pediatrics, Masan Fatima Hospital, Korea
⁵Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Eul Ji University, Korea

Correspondence Jin Han JH Kang ,Email: kjhan@olmh.cuk.ac.kr

Abstract

Purpose
: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pneumococcal nasal carriage and confirm the distribution of pneumococcal capsular serotypes in Korean children below aged 5 years old. Another reason this study was performed was to identify the theoretical coverage by seven valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine, and confirm the penicillin resistant rate.
Methods
: This study included 213 children, who visited out patient clinic or were hospitalized in six hospitals between August 2001 and April 2002. Nasopharyngeal swabs and cultures for S. pneumoniae were performed. Serotyping of isolated samples was performed by the Quellung reaction at the Statens Seruminstitut in Copenhagen. Penicillin MICs were determined by the agar dilution method, and interpreted according to the NCCLS guide line.
Results
: The prevalence of pneumococcal nasal carriage rate in this study was 34.3%. A total of 31 of 73 isolates(42.5%) had intermediate resistance to penicillin, and 29 of 73 isolates(39.7%) showed a high resistance to penicillin. The predominant serotype of the S. pneumoniae isolates was 23F(22%), and the percentages of vaccine serotypes(46.6%) and associated serotypes(37%) which belong to the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine were 83.6%. The resistance pattern of pneumococcal isolates to penicillin was different among the serotypes.
Conclusion
: Pneumococcal isolates from nasal colonization of Korean children showed a high penicillin resistant rate. We assumed that newly developed seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may offer a high theoretical coverage for the isolated strains.

Keywords :S. pneumoniae, Nasal carriage rate, Serotype, Penicillin resistance