TY - JOUR
TI - Characterisation of macrolide-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae
colonising children attending day-care centres in Athens, Greece during
2000 and 2003
AU - Souli, M.
AU - Volonakis, K.
AU - Kapaskelis, A.
AU - Galani, I. and
AU - Grammelis, V.
AU - Vorou, R.
AU - Tsivra, M.
AU - Chryssouli, Z. and
AU - Katsala, D.
AU - Giamarellou, H.
JO - Clinical Microbiology and Infection
PY - 2007
VL - 13
TODO - 1
SP - 70-77
PB - Elsevier Sci Ltd, Exeter, United Kingdom
SN - 1198-743X
TODO - 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2006.01555.x
TODO - children; colonisation; day-care centres; macrolide resistance;
pneumococci; surveillance
TODO - Nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates colonising young
children are representative of isolates causing clinical disease. This
study determined the frequency of macrolide-non-susceptible pneumococci,
as well as their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, among
pneumococci collected during two cross-sectional surveillance studies of
the nasopharynx of 2847 children attending day-care centres in the
Athens metropolitan area during 2000 and 2003. In total, 227
macrolide-non-susceptible pneumococcal isolates were studied. Increases
in macrolide non-susceptibility, from 23% to 30.3% (p < 0.05), and in
macrolide and penicillin co-resistance, from 3.4% to 48.6% (p <
0.001), were identified during the study period. The M resistance
phenotype, associated with the presence of the mef(A)/(E) gene,
predominated in both surveys, and isolates carrying both mef(A)/(E) and
erm(AM) were identified, for the first time in Greece, among the
isolates from the 2003 survey. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis
of the isolates from the 2000 survey indicated the spread of a
macrolide- and penicillin-resistant clone among day-care centres. The
serogroups identified most commonly in the study were 19F, 6A, 6B, 14
and 23F, suggesting that the theoretical protection of the seven-valent
conjugate vaccine against macrolide-non-susceptible isolates was c. 85%
during both study periods.
ER -