Pneumococcal Serotypes Recovered from Health Children and Their Possible Association with Risk Factor in Istanbul, Turkey

Streptococcus pneumonia is an increasing problem worldwide and nasopharyngeal colonization plays an important role in pneumococcal infections. The aims of this study were to assess the nasopharyngeal colonization rate, investigate the risk factors for nasopharyngeal colonization with S. pneumonia, serogroup and penicillin susceptibility patterns of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains isolated from healthy children. A single swab was obtained over the nasopharyngeal walls of the 500 healthy children, of which 25 (5%) were found to be carriers. The carrier rate was significantly higher in the seven-nine years-old age group. Upper respiratory tract infection within the last month (OR=1.1, p>0.001), day-care attendance (OR=3.1, p: 0.02), and the presence of more than five people living in the house of the child (OR=0.2, p: 0.003) have been determined to be risk factors for S. pneumoniae carriage. The most prevalent serogroups in descending order were 9, 19, 23, 6, 10 and 18 and these are in accordance with conjugated pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7). No penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae were obtained. Conclusion: after conjugated vaccine we have seen benefits of vaccine in especially colonization rate and penicillin-resistance.