BACKGROUND Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) causes otitis media, sinusitis, and likely lower respiratory tract infections in children. Colonization, strain diversity, transmission, and antimicrobial susceptibility have implications for both children and their caregivers. METHODS For 13 months, we conducted a cross-sectional study of NTHi colonization. 273 infants and children aged 2 to 26 months old and their primary caregivers had upper respiratory tract cultures performed. NTHi isolates were characterized by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and antibiotic resistance was examined. RESULTS Of the 273 infants, 44 (16.1%) were colonized with NTHi. Prevalence of NTHi varied from 14% in infants less than 6 months of age to 32% in infants 19-26 months of age (p=0.003). NTHi colonized infants were more likely to attend daycare (30% vs. 11%), have a recent respiratory infection (68% vs. 38%), recent antibiotic use (27% vs. 9%), and caregiver reported asthma (11% vs. 1%) compared with other infants (p<0.001). Of the 44 infants colonized with NTHi, we identified 33 different MLSTs. Nine (20.5%) of the 44 infant-primary caregiver dyads were colonized with NTHi and 7/9 shared identical NTHi strains. We also found beta-lactamase negative NTHi with minimum inhibitory concentrations >2 μg/mL for amoxicillin and beta-lactamase positive NTHi with minimum inhibitory concentrations >2 μg/mL for amoxicillin clavulanate. CONCLUSIONS We found substantial diversity by MLST analysis among NTHi isolates from this community. Infant-primary caregiver dyads usually carried the same strain of NTHi, suggesting that infant-primary caregiver transmission is occurring.

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Children who travel internationally to visit friends and relatives (VFRs) are at risk for travel-related illness, but underuse pretravel health services. Although primary care clinics can identify travelers and address pretravel health needs, to date, there are few published reports on effective primary care-based pretravel interventions. We developed a quality improvement initiative to increase traveler identification at a primary care clinic serving families that frequently travel to VFRs. Interventions included a screening question asked at all clinic visits, provider and staff training, travel fliers, and health recommendation sheets for families. Interventions were implemented during 2017 and 2018 peak travel seasons. Travel visit rates and characteristics during the intervention period were compared with pre-intervention baseline periods (April-August, 2015-16). Surveys with providers were conducted to assess disruptiveness of the interventions, and rates of duplicate travel visits were assessed. A total of 738 unique travel events were identified during peak travel seasons from 2015 to 2018, encompassing travel to 29 countries across five continents. Overall, there were 428 unique travel events (3.0% of all clinic visits) during peak seasons 2017-18, compared with 310 unique travel events (2.2% of all clinic visits) during peak seasons 2015-16 (rate ratio 1.34 [95% CI: 1.16-1.56], P < 0.001). None of the 18 healthcare providers or staff surveyed found new travel screening processes to be disruptive or bothersome. Implementation of a primary care-based multimodal travel screening and education initiative was associated with a significantly increased rate of travel visits.