Epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in Malaysia

During a 1-year period from October 1995 to September 1996, 273 isolations of Streptococcus pneumoniae were made from various types of clinical specim ens. The majority of the isolates (39.2 %) were from sputum whilst 27.5 % w ere from blood, CSF and other body fluids. The organism was isolated from p atients of all age groups, 31.1% from children aged 10 years and below, 64. 7 % of which come from children aged 2 years or below. The majority of the isolates belong to serotypes 1, 6B, 19B, 19F and 23F. Serotypes 1 and 19B w ere the most common serotypes associated with invasive infection. About 71. 9% of the invasive infections were due to serotypes included in the availab le 23 valent polysaccharide vaccine. The rates of resistance to penicillin and erythromycin were 7.0 and 1.1% respectively. Our findings show that the serotypes of S, pneumoniae causing most invasive infections in Malaysia ar e similar to those in other parts of the world and the available vaccine ma y have a useful role in this population.