Resistance patterns of Streptococcus pneumoniae from children in central Italy

Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from children aged 3-5 years in central Italy who were attending day-care centres or hospital outpatient clinics. One hundred and twenty-one strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated wer e tested for susceptibility to penicillin, cefotaxime, erythromycin, clinda mycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and cotrimoxazole. A high prevalence o f penicillin-resistant (14%), erythromycin-resistant (60%) and multiply res istant strains (53%) were found. An unusual finding was that 49 of the 64 ( 76.6%) multiply resistant strains were penicillin-susceptible, 28 serogroup 6 strains also being resistant to the other antibiotics tested. Such strai ns have not previously been reported from Italy but have the same features as strains recently found in child carriers in the eastern Mediterranean ar ea.