Nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae by adults and children in community and family settings

Gili Regev-Yochay, Meir Raz, Ron Dagan, Nurith Porat, Bracha Shainberg, Erica Pinco, Nathan Keller, Ethan Rubinstein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

220 Scopus citations

Abstract

The rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage among adults was compared with that among children (age, ≤6 years) in the same population. Nasopharyngeal culture results for 1300 adults and 404 children were analyzed. S. pneumoniae was carried by only 4% of the adults, compared with 53% of children in the same community. Young age, day care center attendance, having young siblings, and no antibiotic use during the month before screening were associated with the high carriage rate among children, whereas the only risk factor associated with carriage among adults was the presence of a respiratory infection on the screening day. S. pneumoniae serotype distribution and antibiotic resistance patterns differed between adults and children. Isolates of the same serotype - even of the same clone - differed in their antibiotic susceptibility patterns between children and adults. In a subanalysis of 151 pairs of children and their parents and of 32 pairs of siblings, intrafamilial transmission of S. pneumoniae could not be demonstrated.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)632-639
Number of pages8
JournalClinical Infectious Diseases
Volume38
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2004
Externally publishedYes

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