Mayumi Terada, Japan
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University Department of Clinical MedicineAuthor Of 1 Presentation
THE LOW PNEUMOCOCCAL CARRIAGE PREVALENCE AMONG COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER PEOPLE IN JAPAN (ID 262)
Abstract
Background
Pneumococcal colonization is considered an initial step of the development pneumococcal diseases. However, the carriage prevalence of pneumococcus among community-dwelling older adults is not fully understood. The objectives of this study were to investigate the carriage prevalence of pneumococcus in the upper respiratory tract and to identify the risk factors of the carriage among community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years in Japan.
Methods
A cross-sectional study of community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years was conducted from February 2018 to December 2018 in Nagasaki city, Japan. We collected demographic and clinical data and nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and saliva samples from each participant. The specimens were tested by culture and molecular methods.
Results
A total of 504 participants were enrolled during the study period. None were positive for pneumococcus by culture, and 22 were positive by PCR. Therefore, the overall pneumococcal carriage prevalence was 4.4% (95% CI: 2.8-6.5%). No demographic characteristics were significantly associated with carriage prevalence, including age (4.7% among participants aged 65-74 years and 4.1% among those 75 years and older). Each serotype of the pneumococcal-positive samples was identified, and PCV13-covered serotypes accounted for 18.2%.
Conclusions
Our study showed a low pneumococcal carriage prevalence among community-dwelling older people in Japan.