CARRIAGE OF MULTIRESISTANT STREPTOCOCCUS-PNEUMONIAE AMONG CHILDREN ATTENDING DAY-CARE-CENTERS IN THE STOCKHOLM AREA

To determine the prevalence of the asymptomatic carriage of drug-resis tant Streptococcus pneumoniae (DRSP) by children attending day-care ce ntres in the Stockholm area, nasopharyngeal swabs were cultured from 1 129 children and 305 day-care personnel in 36 day-care centres during a 3-week period, from March to April 1995. Approximately 36% of the ch ildren were asymptomatic carriers of S. pneumoniae sensitive to penici llin and other antibiotics. The highest prevalence of nasopharyngeal c arriage was found in the 2-year-old group (50%), whereas among the 4-y ear-old children colonization was observed in 42%, and among the 7-yea r-old children 21% were asymptomatic carriers of penicillin-sensitive S. pneumoniae. In 2 day-care centres, 4 and 5 children, respectively, were found to have DRSP strains in the nasopharynx. The same serotype of DRSP strain was found among the children attending the same day-car e centre. During the same period, none of the staff were found to harb our DRSP in the nasopharynx, but 3% were asymptomatic carriers of peni cillin-sensitive S. pneumoniae. The patterns of nasopharyngeal coloniz ation by Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Group I str eptococci were also studied in 635 children during the same period. 42 % of the nasal cultures yielded Moraxella, 32% Ii. influenzae and 2% S treptococcus pyogenes.