PEDIATRICS Vol. 99 No. 4 April 1997,
p. e7
Copyright ©1997 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
ELECTRONIC ARTICLE:
Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Penicillin-resistant
Streptococcus pneumoniae in Children With Sickle Cell
Disease
, §,
, §,
, §,
, and
, §
From the Departments of * Hematology/Oncology and
Biostatistics, St Jude Children's Research Hospital,
Department
of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee, and § LeBonheur Children's
Medical Center, Memphis.
Objective. We studied the prevalence of nasopharyngeal (NP) carriage, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) in children with sickle cell disease (SCD) in the Mid-South. In addition, we examined risk factors for NP carriage of penicillin-resistant SP (PRSP).
Study Design. Between July 1994 and December 1995, we obtained NP cultures from 312 children with SCD followed at the Mid-South Sickle Cell Center, 208 (67%) of whom were receiving penicillin prophylaxis.
Results. Among the 312 patients, colonization with SP occurred in 42 (13%), 30 (71%) of whom were receiving penicillin prophylaxis. Twenty-three of the 42 SP isolates (55%) were resistant to penicillin; 5 of the 23 (22%) were highly resistant. PRSP organisms were also resistant to cefotaxime (43%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (57%), and erythromycin (22%). Serotypes 6A, 6B, 14, 19A, and 23F accounted for 19 (90%) of 21 resistant strains. Children who were treated with antibiotics during the preceding month were more likely to carry PRSP than children who were not treated.
Conclusions. There is a high prevalence of NP carriage of PRSP in children with SCD in the Mid-South, which raises concerns regarding the continued effectiveness of penicillin prophylaxis in these children. Further studies on the antimicrobial susceptibilities of resistant organisms and the relationship between NP carriage of SP and invasive disease are needed before developing new recommendations for prophylaxis and treatment. Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin resistance, colonization, sickle cell disease.
Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) is the most common cause of serious bacterial infections in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). Routine prophylactic use of oral penicillin has dramatically decreased the incidence of severe invasive pneumococcal infections.1 Recently, the prevalence of penicillin-resistant strains of SP has increased, and most of these strains also have decreased susceptibility to other antimicrobial agents, including the broad-spectrum cephalosporins.2 Worldwide, antimicrobial resistance has been associated with four serotypes, 6, 14, 19, and 23.8 Widespread use of penicillin,9 previous antibiotic use,10 day care center attendance,13,14 prior hospitalization,10,15 and young age11 have been implicated as risk factors for infection or colonization with antibiotic-resistant strains of SP in individuals without SCD.
The prevalence of nasopharyngeal (NP) carriage of SP in children with SCD has varied among studies, with an increased rate of penicillin-resistant organisms being recently observed.16 A high prevalence of NP carriage of antibiotic-resistant SP has been found in healthy children with otitis media in Memphis.21 Similarly, a high prevalence of penicillin- and cefotaxime-resistant strains of SP has been found among isolates from invasive infections in this area.22 Episodes of invasive disease caused by penicillin-resistant SP (PRSP) have been documented in children with SCD in the Mid-South as well as other parts of the United States.23,24
We conducted the present study to determine the prevalence of NP carriage, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and serotypes of SP in children with SCD who were followed at the Mid-South Sickle Cell Center (MSSCC). We also examined potential risk factors for NP carriage of penicillin-resistant SP.
Study Population
The study population comprised children with SCD (sickle cell hemoglobin [HbS]S, HbSC, or HbS
-thalassemia) followed at the MSSCC. The MSSCC in Memphis provides comprehensive care for
approximately 600 children and adolescents with sickle cell
hemoglobinopathies. Most patients reside in western Tennessee, northern
Mississippi, and eastern Arkansas and receive their medical care at Le
Bonheur Children's Medical Center (LBCMC). Penicillin prophylaxis is
routinely started at 3 months and continued until at least 5 years of
age. Twenty-three valent pneumococcal vaccine is administered at 2 years of age with a booster given at 5 years of age. Eligible patients
with SCD, evaluated in the clinic or LBCMC emergency department between
July 1994 and December 1995, were enrolled on the study. A small
percentage (estimated at 15% to 20%) of these patients were not
entered in the study because of parent and/or patient refusal or
because they were missed during a busy clinic or emergency department
day. The study population was divided into two groups according to
clinical status at time of enrollment. Group 1 comprised children
evaluated during a routine clinic visit, and Group 2 consisted of
children evaluated during an episode of fever and/or respiratory
illness.
Procedure
Children were enrolled in the study after informed consent was obtained from the parent and/or patient as appropriate. Information regarding penicillin prophylaxis was recorded. An NP culture was obtained at enrollment either during a routine clinic visit or during an episode of fever and/or respiratory illness. NP cultures were collected from the nasopharynx using cotton-tipped flexible wire swabs inserted through the nostril in most children and from high in the oropharynx in a few children older than 10 years.Microbiologic Analysis
In the LBCMC microbiology laboratory, swabs were used to inoculate sheep blood agar plates within 3 hours of collection, and the plates were incubated for 48 hours in a 5% carbon dioxide environment. SP organisms were identified based on colony morphology with confirmation using Optochin (ethyl hydrocuprein HCl) discs. The strains were then screened for penicillin susceptibility using Mueller-Hinton agar plates with sheep blood and 1 µg of oxacillin Kirby-Bauer susceptibility discs. A zone of inhibition of less than 20 mm indicated potential penicillin resistance. Quantitative susceptibilities of putative penicillin-resistant strains were then determined using the epsilometric test (E-test; AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden) strips. The E-test is a method for determining minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) based on the diffusion of an antibiotic gradient from a plastic strip onto inoculated agar media. The PRSP strains were further tested for susceptibilities to cefotaxime using the E-test, and to erythromycin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ) using Kirby-Bauer susceptibility discs. Levels of resistance were defined according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards guidelines25: high-level resistance (HR) to penicillin, MIC, greater than 1.0 µg/ml; intermediate-level resistance (IR) to penicillin, MIC, 0.1 to 1.0 µg/ml; HR to cefotaxime, MIC, 2.0 µg/ml or greater; and IR to cefotaxime, MIC, 1.0 µg/ml. All isolates were frozen in trypticase soy broth with 20% glycerol at
70°C for
transport to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Serotypes
of SP isolates were determined at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention by the Danish Neufeld-Quellung reaction with pooled and
individual serotype-specific pneumococcal antisera.
Statistical Considerations
The relationships between both NP carriage of SP and NP carriage of penicillin-resistant SP and season when enrolled, age at enrollment, type of SCD, acute illness, use of penicillin prophylaxis, recent antibiotic therapy, and day care center attendance were examined by univariate analysis in the total patient population using the logistic regression model. The risk factors identified by univariate analysis (P
.2) were further examined by
multivariate analysis using a multiple logistic regression model, which
included only those patients for whom information regarding all the
identified risk factors was available. In the subset of patients who
were colonized with SP, the relationships between NP carriage of
penicillin-resistant SP and each of the above potential risk
factors as well as prior hospitalization were studied by univariate
analysis using the exact logistic regression model. The exact logistic
regression model was used instead of the logistic regression model in
this subset because of the small sample size. Because only younger children were at risk of day care exposure, analyses of the
relationships to this particular factor were performed only in children
younger than 6 years.
Patient Characteristics
During an 18-month period (July 1994 to December 1995), 312 patients with SCD (HbSS, n = 195; HbSC, n = 93; and HbS
-thalassemia, n = 24) were enrolled on the study. All
patients were African-American. There were 171 male and 141 female
patients; they ranged in age from 2 weeks to 18.2 years (median, 4.3 years). Group 1 comprised 267 patients (86%), and Group 2 contained 45 patients (14%). Of the 312 enrollees, 208 (67%) were receiving
penicillin prophylaxis. As expected, significantly more children aged 5 years and younger were receiving penicillin prophylaxis (83%) than
children older than 5 years (47%) (P <.001,
2 test). Twenty-three (12%) of the 194 patients for
whom information was available had received antibiotic therapy other
than penicillin prophylaxis during the preceding month. Of the 216 children for whom information was available, 28 (ages 4 months to
5.4 years) attended day care centers.
Pneumococcal Carriage and Resistance to Antibiotics
Of the 312 patients enrolled in the study, 42 (13%) were colonized with SP (Table 1). Twenty-three of the 42 SP isolates (55%) were resistant to penicillin (MIC, 0.1 to 8.0 µg/ml); 18 (78%) were of intermediate resistance; and 5 (22%) were highly resistant. Of the 23 isolates resistant to penicillin, 19 (83%) were obtained from patients receiving penicillin prophylaxis. The relationships of NP carriage of SP and PRSP to penicillin prophylaxis are displayed in Fig 1.|
Table 1. Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) in Children With Sickle Cell Disease |
Fig. 1. Number of children with sickle cell disease colonized with Streptococcus pneumoniae according to use of penicillin prophylaxis and penicillin resistance of S pneumoniae.
[View Larger Version of this Image (13K GIF file)]
Pneumococcal NP Carriage and Season
During the 18-month period of the study, 21 (20%) of the 105 cultures collected in December through February and 5 (17%) of 29 cultures collected in March through May grew SP. In contrast, only 7 (8%) of the 83 cultures collected in June through August and 9 (9%) of 95 cultures collected in September through November were positive for SP (Fig 2). Children carried SP in their nasopharynx 2.4 times more often during the winter and spring (December through May) than during the summer and fall (June through November) (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2 to 4.8; P = .009).
Fig. 2. Monthly incidence of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children with sickle cell disease (n = 312) cultured between July 1994 and December 1995.
[View Larger Version of this Image (19K GIF file)]
Serotype Data
The serotypes of 36 SP isolates, including 21 PRSP isolates, were determined. Serotypes 6A, 6B, 14, 19A, and 23F accounted for 25 (69%) of the 36 SP strains and 19 (90%) of the 21 resistant strains (Table 2).|
Table 2. Serotype Distribution of 36 Tested Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) Strains, Including 21 Penicillin-resistant SP (PRSP) Strains |
Risk Factors
In the univariate analysis of the potential risk factors for NP carriage of SP, only age and recent antibiotic therapy were found to be significant (P = .027 and .050, respectively) (Table 3). These factors also proved to be significant by multivariate analysis, which included only the 194 patients for whom information regarding recent antibiotic therapy was available. Young children (18 months and younger) were 2.5 times more likely to carry SP in their nasopharynx than those older than 18 months (95% CI, 1.1 to 5.6). Children who received antibiotic therapy during the preceding month were 2.6 times more likely to be colonized with SP than those who did not (95% CI, 0.9 to 7.1). No significant interaction was found between age and recent antibiotic therapy.|
Table 3. Univariate Analyses of Risk Factors for Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) and Penicillin-resistant SP (PRSP) in Patients With Sickle Cell Disease |
Table 4.
Univariate Analysis of Risk Factors for Nasopharyngeal Carriage of
Penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (PRSP) in Patients With Sickle Cell Disease Colonized With SP
SP strains that colonize the nasopharynx may be associated with invasive disease.26 NP carriage occurs in about one third of healthy children, with infants having the highest rate.27,28 From a study conducted in Memphis from May through September1993, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention21 reported that 30% of NP cultures obtained from healthy children with otitis media grew SP. Between July 1994 and December 1995, we found that 13% of children with SCD followed at the MSSCC were colonized with SP. This prevalence was lower than that found in healthy children but similar to the NP carriage rates reported in children with SCD by Overturf et al (17.8%),16 Anglin et al (14.5%),17 and Steele et al (12%).20 Furthermore, the study by Anglin et al17 showed that the prevalence of carriage in children with sickle cell anemia who were receiving penicillin prophylaxis was significantly lower than that of control children (34.4%), particularly during the winter months. In our study, the lower rate of NP carriage among children with SCD compared with that in healthy children did not seem to be related to the use of penicillin prophylaxis, because the rates of carriage were similar in patients receiving penicillin prophylaxis and those not receiving penicillin prophylaxis (Table 3). Our inability to show an effect of penicillin prophylaxis may be related in part to age differences between the groups, because more young children, who are at a higher risk to be colonized with SP, were also receiving penicillin prophylaxis. Other studies have reported even lower rates of pneumococcal NP carriage in children with SCD. In a study from Cleveland,18 6.2% of children with SCD who had cultures taken between December 1990 and March 1991 were colonized with SP. However, this colonization rate was similar to that (5.1%) of the control group of healthy children. In addition, the collaborative, multicenter Ancillary Nasopharyngeal Culture Study, performed in sickle cell patients followed for 3 years, showed the overall rate of NP carriage of SP to be 5.5%.19 Discrepancies among colonization prevalence figures may be related in part to differences in children's ages, methods of collection, and time to inoculation of specimens.
This study was supported in part by grant P30 CA-21765 from the National Cancer Institute, the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, and the LBCMC Research Grant Program.
Received for publication Mar 27, 1996; accepted Sep 27, 1996.
Reprint requests to (N.C.D.) Department of Hematology/Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 N Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105-2794.
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Pediatrics (ISSN 0031 4005). Copyright ©1997 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
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