Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Strains Occur Frequently in Elderly Patients in Japan

Abstract

We identified and genetically characterized seven fluoroquinolone-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae strains among 293 clinical strains isolated from 1999 to 2001 in Japan. The resistant strains were isolated only from adults, and 7 of 31 isolates (22.6%) were from patients more than 20 years old. Resistant strains were not found in 262 isolates from children under age 10.

Emergence of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Haemophilus influenzae Strains among Elderly Patients but Not among Children

“…The frequency of occurrence of fluoroquinolone-resistant strains among patients above 50 years of age was 10.2%. Similar age distributions were observed for patients with S. pneumoniae isolates in our previous reports (21,22). We reported that fluoroquinolone-resistant S. pneumoniae strains were present in over 20% of elderly patients, but their overall frequency is low (2.4% of 670 strains tested) because they have not been identified in children.…”

“…The results of our current analysis are quite different from results of studies of S. pneumoniae (21,22). Fluoroquinoloneresistant S. pneumoniae strains had marked differences in the patterns of mutation in their QRDRs and RAPD-PCR results and were isolated from various areas in the Hokkaido prefecture.…”

Clonal Dissemination of Macrolide-Resistant and Penicillin-Susceptible Serotype 3 and Penicillin-Resistant Taiwan 19F-14 and 23F-15 Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates in Japan: a Pilot Surveillance Study

“…In Japan, the incidence of penicillin-nonsusceptible strains has increased from Ͻ1.0% during 1974 through 1982 to 65.3% during 1996 through 1997 (16). In the meantime, macrolideresistant strains are also increasing in number (9,13,14,18,22,24,32) and fluoroquinolone-resistant strains have been found (5,14,16,33) both in Japan and worldwide. This spread of drug-resistant pneumococci in a relatively short period of time has made accurate epidemiological surveillance of this common pathogen of the utmost importance.…”

Nonmolecular Test for Detection of Low-Level Resistance to Fluoroquinolones in Streptococcus pneumoniae

“…The increasing use of FQs for the treatment of a variety of community-acquired infections has led to an increased prevalence of the FQ-resistant strains, which, however, remains low, ranging from 1 to 7% (2,3,6,8,16,20,23,27,32,33). The prevalence of FQ-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae in France is currently about 2%, the highest rate (4%) being found in strains isolated from the respiratory tract in adults (Centre National de Référence des Pneumocoques [CNRP], rapport d'activité 2003, http://www.invs.sante.fr/surveillance).…”