Biomaterial Database

The incidence of penicillin-resistant pneumococci in the Slovak Republic. Pneumococcus Study Group. 1997

J Trupl, and H Hupková, and P C Appelbaum, and M R Jacobs

Department of Clinical Microbiology, National Cancer Center, Bratislava, Slovakia.

The prevalence of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and multiresistant strains isolated in Europe from the early 1970s has continued to rise. Twenty-four microbiology laboratories in the Slovak Republic analyzed 4,018 S. pneumoniae strains isolated from September 1, 1993, to December 31, 1993. The overall resistance rate to penicillin was 3.4% in strains isolated from outpatients and 8.5% from inpatients with considerable variation between regions. The highest regional resistance rate to penicillin was 21% from outpatients in Levice, in the western Slovakia, and ranged between 13 and 52% in strains collected from hospitalized patients in 6 regions. Rates of penicillin-resistant pneumococci were significantly higher (p < or = 0.01) in children aged < or = 3 years. Two thirds of penicillin-resistant strains had intermediate levels of resistance (MICs 0.1-1 microgram/ml) and one third was resistant (MICs 2-8 micrograms/ml). Resistance to multiple classes of agents was found in 75.9% of penicillin-resistant strains. These data support continued surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in pneumococcal infections. Standardization of susceptibility testing methods and monitoring of clinical outcomes is of critical importance to this complex problem.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D010403	Penicillin Resistance	Nonsusceptibility of an organism to the action of penicillins.	Penicillin Resistances,Resistance, Penicillin,Resistances, Penicillin
D010406	Penicillins	A group of antibiotics that contain 6-aminopenicillanic acid with a side chain attached to the 6-amino group. The penicillin nucleus is the chief structural requirement for biological activity. The side-chain structure determines many of the antibacterial and pharmacological characteristics. (Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 8th ed, p1065)	Antibiotics, Penicillin,Penicillin,Penicillin Antibiotics
D011008	Pneumococcal Infections	Infections with bacteria of the species STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE.	Streptococcus pneumoniae Infections,Infections, Pneumococcal,Infections, Streptococcus pneumoniae,Pneumococcal Diseases,Disease, Pneumococcal,Diseases, Pneumococcal,Infection, Pneumococcal,Infection, Streptococcus pneumoniae,Pneumococcal Disease,Pneumococcal Infection,Streptococcus pneumoniae Infection
D011018	Pneumonia, Pneumococcal	A febrile disease caused by STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE.	Pneumococcal Pneumonia,Pneumococcal Pneumonias,Pneumonias, Pneumococcal
D011159	Population Surveillance	Ongoing scrutiny of a population (general population, study population, target population, etc.), generally using methods distinguished by their practicability, uniformity, and frequently their rapidity, rather than by complete accuracy.	Surveillance, Population
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013296	Streptococcus pneumoniae	A gram-positive organism found in the upper respiratory tract, inflammatory exudates, and various body fluids of normal and/or diseased humans and, rarely, domestic animals.	Diplococcus pneumoniae,Pneumococcus
D015994	Incidence	The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from PREVALENCE, which refers to all cases in the population at a given time.	Attack Rate,Cumulative Incidence,Incidence Proportion,Incidence Rate,Person-time Rate,Secondary Attack Rate,Attack Rate, Secondary,Attack Rates,Cumulative Incidences,Incidence Proportions,Incidence Rates,Incidence, Cumulative,Incidences,Person time Rate,Person-time Rates,Proportion, Incidence,Rate, Attack,Rate, Incidence,Rate, Person-time,Rate, Secondary Attack,Secondary Attack Rates