Large-scale surveillance studies using molecular techniques such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) have revealed that the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci is due to clonal spread. However, in Japan, surveillance studies using such molecular techniques have never been done. Therefore, we conducted a pilot surveillance study to elucidate the present situation in Japan. Among the 145 isolates examined, the most prevalent serotype was type 19F (20%), for which most isolates were not susceptible to penicillin (86.2%) but were positive for the mef(A)/mef(E) gene (89.7%). The secondmost prevalent was serotype 3 (16.6%), for which most isolates were susceptible to penicillin (87.5%) and positive for the erm(B) gene (91.7%). PFGE analysis showed that both serotypes consisted mainly of clonally identical or related isolates and, in particular, 38% of the type 19F isolates were indistinguishable from or closely related to the Taiwan 19F-14 clone. In addition, some of the Japanese type 23F isolates with the erm(B) gene were indistinguishable from or related to the Taiwan 23F-15 clone as analyzed by PFGE. Based on the results of our pilot study performed in a single institution, it is likely that international antibiotic-resistant clones have already spread in Japan; therefore, a nationwide surveillance study should be urgently conducted.

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