Pneumococcal carriage in geriatric institute residents

This survey assessed the incidence of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal colonizat ion, the susceptibility to penicillin and other antibiotics, and the distri bution of different serotypes in a geriatric resident population. During Fe bruary 1997, samples were obtained with nasopharyngeal swabs from 300 resid ents of a geriatric institute: Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated from 1 7 patients (5.6%). All of the isolates were sensitive to the nine antibioti cs tested, except for two that were partially resistant to penicillin; 15 o f them belonged to serotype 23. In summary, the carriage rate of pneumococc i in geriatric institute residents is very low, and the microorganisms are highly sensitive to antimicrobial agents.