Resistance Patterns ofStreptococcus pneumoniaefrom Carriers Attending Day‐Care Centers in Southwestern Greece

Abstract

The resistance to beta-lactam and non-beta-lactam antibiotics of 133 nasopharyngeal isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae recovered from December 1995 to February 1996 from children attending seven day-care centers in southwestern Greece was studied. Reduced susceptibility to one or more anti-microbial agents was found in 70 isolates (53%), as follows: penicillin, 17% intermediate, 12% resistant; cefotaxime, 10.5% intermediate, 1.5% resistant; trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 8% intermediate, 35% resistant; chloramphenicol, 27% resistant; tetracycline, 29% resistant; and erythromycin/clindamycin, 19% resistant. Eighty-seven percent of penicillin-intermediate or -resistant strains belonged to serogroups/serotypes 19, 21, and 23. Fifty-six percent of the antibiotic-resistant pneumococci were multiply resistant, including serogroup 6 strains that were penicillin-susceptible but resistant to all non-beta-lactam drugs tested, as well as serogroup 23 strains resistant to penicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The high incidence of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci and the divergent and unique resistance patterns found in this study underline the need for global surveillance of S. pneumoniae to document the evolution and spread of resistant strains and to guide therapy.

Pneumococcal Carriage in Children in The Netherlands: a Molecular Epidemiological Study

“…8,2001). These results are in contrast to data from previous DCC studies in other countries, where antibiotic resistance among pneumococcal isolates was high, associated with previous antibiotic consumption, and correlated to increased spread of drug-resistant pneumococci among DCC attendees (2,5,24,33,37). Because drug resistance among pneumococci is negligible in our study group, we hypothesized that crowding, which is also a risk factor for nasopharyngeal carriage, is playing an important role in facilitating the transmission of bacteria among children in DCCs.…”

Molecular Epidemiology of Penicillin-Susceptible Non-β-Lactam-Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from Greek Children

“…We studied a collection of 128 S. pneumoniae isolates susceptible to penicillin but resistant to erythromycin and/or other non-␤-lactam agents; the isolates were recovered from nasopharyngeal cultures obtained from children during two independent studies in Greece (3,30,31). The first study was performed in 338 children attending seven day care centers in the city of Patras in southwestern Greece during the 2-month period from December 1995 to February 1996.…”

“…Isolation, identification, and susceptibility testing of the Greek S. pneumoniae isolates were performed by applying standard methods as described previously (30,31). Penicillin and erythromycin MICs for the Greek isolates were determined by the E-test method (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden).…”

“…Multidrug resistance was defined as resistance to three or more classes of antimicrobial agents. Pneumococci were serotyped by the capsular swelling method or the latex agglutination technique (30,33).…”

“…In Greece, the emergence of antibiotic resistance among pneumococcal isolates was recognized in the mid-1990s (30). Recently, pneumococcal isolates susceptible to penicillin and resistant to chloramphenicol, tetracycline, erythromycin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) have been isolated from young Greek carriers.…”