Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Hygiene logoLink to The Journal of Hygiene
. 1985 Dec;95(3):677–684. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400060782

Pneumococcal carriage amongst Australian aborigines in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

D Hansman, S Morris, M Gregory, B McDonald
PMCID: PMC2129567  PMID: 3879259

Abstract

In Alice Springs and its vicinity, a single nasal swab was collected from 282 Australian aborigines in May 1981 to determine nasal carriage rates of pneumococci. Each swab was inoculated on blood agar and on gentamicin blood agar. The carriage rates were 89% in children, 39% in adolescents and 34% in adults. In all, 27 serotypes of pneumococci were met with and 15 (4%) of subjects yielded two or more serotypes. In children, types 23, 19, 6, 22 and 6 were predominant (in that order), whereas type 3 was commonest in older subjects. Approximately 25% children and 5% adults yielded drug-insensitive pneumococci. Resistance to benzylpenicillin, tetracycline and co-trimoxazole was met with, resistant pneumococci showed five resistance patterns and belonged to nine serotypes, predominantly types 19 and 23. All isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol, erythromycin, lincomycin and rifampicin. The carriage rate of drug-insensitive pneumococci was 100-fold higher amongst children sampled than in non-aboriginal children in Australia.

Full text

PDF
684

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Ahronheim G. A., Reich B., Marks M. I. Penicillin-insensitive pneumococci. Case report and review. Am J Dis Child. 1979 Feb;133(2):187–191. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1979.02130020079017. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Annear D. I., Norcott T. C., Ruhen R. B. The agar dilution method of testing the sensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics. Pathology. 1974 Jan;6(1):45–52. doi: 10.3109/00313027409077155. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Converse G. M., 3rd, Dillon H. C., Jr Epidemiological studies of Streptococcus pneumoniae in infants: methods of isolating pneumococci. J Clin Microbiol. 1977 Mar;5(3):293–296. doi: 10.1128/jcm.5.3.293-296.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cybulska J., Jeljaszewicz J., Lund E., Munksgaard A. Prevalence of types of Diplococcus pneumoniae and their susceptibility to 30 antibiotics. Chemotherapy. 1970;15(5):304–316. doi: 10.1159/000220695. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gratten M., Naraqi S., Hansman D. High prevalence of penicillin-insensitive pneumococci in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Lancet. 1980 Jul 26;2(8187):192–195. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)90072-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gray B. M., Converse G. M., 3rd, Dillon H. C., Jr Epidemiologic studies of Streptococcus pneumoniae in infants: acquisition, carriage, and infection during the first 24 months of life. J Infect Dis. 1980 Dec;142(6):923–933. doi: 10.1093/infdis/142.6.923. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hansman D., Devitt L., Miles H., Riley I. Pneumococci relatively insensitive to penicillin in Australia and New Guinea. Med J Aust. 1974 Sep 7;2(10):353–356. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1974.tb70836.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hansman D., Glasgow H., Sturt J., Devitt L., Douglas R. Increased resistance to penicillin of pneumococci isolated from man. N Engl J Med. 1971 Jan 28;284(4):175–177. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197101282840403. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hansman D. Serotypes in pneumococcal disease. A ten year study in Australia 1970 through 1979. Aust N Z J Med. 1983 Aug;13(4):359–364. doi: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1983.tb04481.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jacobs M. R., Koornhof H. J., Robins-Browne R. M., Stevenson C. M., Vermaak Z. A., Freiman I., Miller G. B., Witcomb M. A., Isaäcson M., Ward J. I. Emergence of multiply resistant pneumococci. N Engl J Med. 1978 Oct 5;299(14):735–740. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197810052991402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kamien M. Ear disease and hearing in aboriginal and white children in two schools in rural New South Wales. Med J Aust. 1975 May 10;1(4 Suppl):33–37. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1976.tb116034.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Loda F. A., Collier A. M., Glezen W. P., Strangert K., Clyde W. A., Jr, Denny F. W. Occurrence of Diplococcus pneumoniae in the upper respiratory tract of children. J Pediatr. 1975 Dec;87(6 Pt 2):1087–1093. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(75)80120-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. MASTERS P. L., BRUMFITT W., MENDEZ R. L., LIKAR M. Bacterial flora of the upper respiratory tract in Paddington families. 1952-4. Br Med J. 1958 May 24;1(5081):1200–1205. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5081.1200. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Moodie P. M. Mortality and morbidity in Australian aboriginal children. Med J Aust. 1969 Jan 25;1(4):180–185. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1969.tb92093.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Hygiene are provided here courtesy of Cambridge University Press

RESOURCES