Epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus colonization in healthy Venezuelan children

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. We investigated both the colonization and co-colonization characteristics for these pathogens among 250 healthy children from 2 to 5 years of age in Merida, Venezuela, in 2007. The prevalence of S. pneumoniae colonization, S. aureus colonization, and S. pneumoniae–S. aureus co-colonization was 28%, 56%, and 16%, respectively. Pneumococcal serotypes 6B (14%), 19F (12%), 23F (12%), 15 (9%), 6A (8%), 11 (8%), 23A (6%), and 34 (6%) were the most prevalent. Non-respiratory atopy was a risk factor for S. aureus colonization (p = 0.017). Vaccine serotypes were negatively associated with preceding respiratory infection (p = 0.02) and with S. aureus colonization (p = 0.03). We observed a high prevalence of pneumococcal resistance against trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole (40%), erythromycin (38%), and penicillin (14%). Semi-quantitative measurement of pneumococcal colonization density showed that children with young siblings and low socioeconomic status were more densely colonized (p = 0.02 and p = 0.02, respectively). In contrast, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole- and multidrug-resistant-pneumococci colonized children sparsely (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01, respectively). Our data form an important basis to monitor the future impact of pneumococcal vaccination on bacterial colonization, as well as to recommend a rationalized and restrictive antimicrobial use in our community.

Streptococcus pneumoniae Colonization Disrupts the Microbial Community within the Upper Respiratory Tract of Aging Mice

“…Old mice are unable to clear bacterial colonization as effectively as their young counterparts. We observed a number of interspecies interactions between S. pneumoniae and the existing mouse microbiome (e.g., Staphylococcus) that have been reported previously only in experimental models (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). In particular, Streptococcus interacted competitively with Staphylococcus and synergistically with Haemophilus.…”

“…The presence of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Haemophilus influenzae in the nasopharynx previously has been shown to influence subsequent colonization (19). In particular, S. pneumoniae and S. aureus appear to have an antagonistic relationship, while S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae demonstrate a synergistic relationship to promote cocolonization within this microbial niche (17,18,20,21). To further investigate these interactions in a natural community, we examined how existing populations of Staphylococcus and Haemophilus are altered following S. pneumoniae colonization.…”

Staphylococcus aureusandStreptococcus pneumoniaeinteraction and response to pneumococcal vaccination: Myth or reality?

“…2,3 During the following years multiple epidemiological studies in different geographical regions observed similar findings of a negative association between carriage of S. pneumoniae and S. aureus in young children. [4][5][6][7][8] The carriage of both species was associated with age, with the peak S. pneumoniae carriage and lowest S. aureus carriage at 6 months to 3 years [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and peak S. aureus colonization at age <6 months and 5-7 y 11 The negative association was significant even after adjusting for age, but this interference was not observed in older children and adults. 8,12 Interestingly, most studies 2,3,5,9 found that the inverse correlation between S. pneumoniae and S. aureus was significant only for carriage of vaccine-type S. pneumoniae strains, which were carried more commonly before the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine.…”

Effect of Pneumococcal Vaccination on Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Staphylococcus aureus in Fijian Children

“…However, pneumococcal vaccination has minimal impact on the overall rate of pneumococcal carriage due to replacement by nonvaccine serotypes (3,8,11). Reports demonstrating an inverse relationship between nasopharyngeal carriage of vaccine type S. pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus (2,21,22) and increases in the proportion of otitis media caused by nontypeable H. influenzae following PCV7 vaccination (1,4,41) generated concern that removal of vaccine type pneumococci from the nasopharynx could facilitate colonization by other respiratory pathogens. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of pneumococcal immunization on carriage of respiratory pathogens in a high-risk population.…”