Objective: To screen for asymptomatic respiratory carriage of S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae and Group A Streptococcus (GAS) in children attending JIPMER, correlate carriage rate with different socio-demographic factors and to detect antimicrobial resistance among the isolates.
Methods: Throat swabs were collected from both in patients and out patients (<or=12 yr of age) and processed. Bacteria were identified by Standard techniques. Susceptibility to commonly used antimicrobial agents was determined by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion technique.
Results: Overall carriage rate of respiratory pathogens was 30% with S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae and GAS accounting for 22%, 5% and 4.5% respectively. Three patients had >1 organism. Antibiotic resistance was highest in S. pneumoniae with 66.7% of strains resistant to penicillin. MDR strains were also encountered. Erythromycin resistance was observed in both H. influenzae (28.4%) and GAS (22%). No statistically significant association was found between the carriage rate of these organisms and different socio-demographic factors.
Conclusions: S. pneumoniae carriage rate was comparatively higher in the Community and its antimicrobial resistance is an issue to address.