ABSTRACT
The extent of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage in Brazilian infants is largely unknown. We evaluated the presence of MRSA nasopharyngeal (NP) carriage in 686 children younger than 5 years with respiratory tract infection (609) and meningitis (77). S. aureus was isolated in 93 (13.5%) NP specimens of which 7 (1.02%) were identified as MRSA (oxacillin MIC, >256 microg/mL) harboring SCCmec type III. The dendrogram derived from the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis gel images showed that the MRSA strains diverged from the Brazilian endemic hospital-acquired clones from 10.4% to 21.7%. Although the MRSA strains were recovered from children within the first 6 h of their admission to hospital, the presence of SCCmec type III along with the multidrug-resistant profile of the isolates raises the hypotheses that these MRSA strains may have hospital origin and are now spreading into the pediatric community as colonizing pathogens.
Subject(s)
Carrier State/epidemiology , Carrier State/microbiology , Methicillin Resistance , Staphylococcus aureus/isolation & purification , Brazil/epidemiology , Child, Preschool , Humans , Meningitis, Bacterial/epidemiology , Meningitis, Bacterial/microbiology , Nasopharynx/microbiology , Respiratory Tract Infections/epidemiology , Respiratory Tract Infections/microbiology , Staphylococcal Infections/epidemiology , Staphylococcal Infections/microbiology , Staphylococcus aureus/drug effectsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The conjugate Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine has been highly efficacious in reducing type b H. influenzae meningitis. However, information is limited about its impact on childhood pneumonia after vaccine introduction into the routine programme. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Hib conjugate vaccine in the reduction of community-acquired pneumonia among infants in Central Brazil. METHODS: A matched case-control study was built into an ongoing prospective population-based surveillance of pneumonia, enrolling 1293 participants between May 2000 and August 2001. Cases (n = 431) were children Subject(s)
Haemophilus Infections/prevention & control
, Haemophilus Vaccines/therapeutic use
, Haemophilus influenzae type b/immunology
, Pneumonia, Bacterial/prevention & control
, Age Distribution
, Brazil/epidemiology
, Case-Control Studies
, Child Day Care Centers
, Child, Preschool
, Female
, Haemophilus Infections/epidemiology
, Humans
, Infant
, Male
, Pneumonia, Bacterial/epidemiology
, Population Surveillance/methods
, Prospective Studies
, Risk Factors
, Treatment Outcome
, Vaccines, Conjugate/therapeutic use
