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Antimicrobial Resistant Pattern and Capsular Typing of Streptococcus Pneumoniae Isolated from Children in Sistan –Baluchestan
Zahra GHARAILOO, Seyed Fazlollah MOUSAVI and Mohammad Mehdi FEIZABADI
ABSTRACT
Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is an important pathogen of respiratory tract in developing countries. It also causes meningitis, otitis media, community-acquired pneumoniae, and bacteremia. Nasopharyngeal carriage is the paramount importance in the transmission of these bacteria. The pathogenesis of disease begins with colonization of the nasopharynx. Due to lack of pneumococcal disease surveillance and epidemiological data on the carriage in Sistan-Baluchestan, this study was done to determine the frequency of common pneumococcal capsular types among non-vaccinated children under 6 years old by Multiplex PCR.
Materials and method: In this study 260 nasopharyngeal swabs were taken from non-vaccinated healthy children between 6 months to 6 years old at medical centers in Sistan-Baluchestan during August 2013 to January 2014. These samples were cultured on blood agar. Primary identification of bacterial isolated was determined by biochemical analysis and molecular tests. Capsular typing was performed by Multiplex PCR using primers targeting cps locus that is highly conserved among different capsular types. The master mixes for PCR were grouped them into six multiplex reactions.
Results: Out of 260 nasopharyngeal swabs, 42 isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were detected and identified. The overall pneumococcal carriage rate was 16.1%. The most frequently isolated capsular types were: 6A/B, 19A, 19F and 23F. These capsular types accounted for 49.9% of all strains detected.
Conclusion: We found that the prevalence of pneumococcal carriage among non-vaccinated children under six years old is about 16%. Our study provides much data about carriage rate and pneumococcal capsular types in preschool children, which is necessary for predicting the different valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccines in Iran.
Keywords: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Nasopharynx, Multiplex PCR, Capsular typing.