“…For each strain, we obtained information on the patient's age and sex, the clinical source, and the name of the city where the strain was isolated, in accordance with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information in Japanese law. The isolates were obtained from the following clinical specimens (with the numbers of samples in parentheses): sputum (190), rhinorrhea (178), nasal cavity (19), pharyngeal fluid (33), otopyorrhea (15), vaginal secreta (6), conjunctival discharge (5), bronchial lavage fluid (5), blood (2), urine (2), lochia (1), and cerebrospinal fluid (1). Cities where strains were isolated were Sapporo (228 strains), Muroran (112 strains), Asahikawa (61 strains), Tomakomai (23 strains), Obihiro (17 strains), Hakodate (14 strains), and Iwamizawa (2 strains).…”