Increased nasopharyngeal carriage of serotypes 6A, 6C, and 6D Streptococcus pneumoniae after introduction of childhood pneumococcal vaccination in Hong Kong.

Active surveillance on nasopharygeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children was conducted in 5581 children under 16 years old admitted with respiratory illness to the pediatric wards in a Hong Kong teaching hospital during 2008-2010. The isolation rate of S. pneumoniae was 14.

Role of 'atypical pathogens' among adult hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia.

Background And Objective: Agents such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila are recognized as important causes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) worldwide. This study examined the role of these 'atypical pathogens' (AP) among adult hospitalized patients with CAP.

Methods: A prospective, observational study of consecutive adult CAP (clinico-radiological diagnosis) patients hospitalized during 2004-2005 was conducted.

Value of serum procalcitonin, neopterin, and C-reactive protein in differentiating bacterial from viral etiologies in patients presenting with lower respiratory tract infections.

The values of procalcitonin (PCT), neopterin, and C-reactive protein (CRP) alone and in combination to differentiate bacterial from viral etiology in patients with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) were evaluated. Sera obtained on the day of hospitalization for LRTI from 139 patients with confirmed bacterial etiology and 128 patients with viral etiology were examined. A further 146 sera from healthy Chinese subjects with no infection were included as controls.

Viral etiology of acute exacerbations of COPD in Hong Kong.

Introduction: Viral respiratory infections may precipitate acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). However, little is known about viral etiology related to AECOPD in Asia. We aimed to study the viral etiology of AECOPD in Hong Kong.

Fluoroquinolone resistance in atypical pneumococci and oral streptococci: evidence of horizontal gene transfer of fluoroquinolone resistance determinants from Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Atypical strains, presumed to be pneumococcus, with ciprofloxacin MICs of > or =4.0 microg/ml and unique sequence variations within the quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDRs) of the gyrase and topoisomerase genes in comparison with the Streptococcus pneumoniae R6 strain, were examined. These strains were reidentified using phenotypic methods, including detection of optochin susceptibility, bile solubility, and agglutination by serotype-specific antisera, and genotypic methods, including detection of pneumolysin and autolysin genes by PCR, 16S rRNA sequencing, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST).

Longitudinally tracking fluoroquinolone resistance and its determinants in penicillin-susceptible and -nonsusceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in Hong Kong, 2000 to 2005.

Of 1,388 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates collected from 2000 to 2005, 10.5% had a ciprofloxacin MIC of >/=4.0 mug/ml and 1.

Prospective comparison of three predictive rules for assessing severity of community-acquired pneumonia in Hong Kong.

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading infectious cause of death throughout the world, including Hong Kong.

Aim: To compare the ability of three validated prediction rules for CAP to predict mortality in Hong Kong: the 20 variable Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI), the 6-point CURB65 scale adopted by the British Thoracic Society and the simpler CRB65.

Methods: A prospective observational study of 1016 consecutive inpatients with CAP (583 men, mean (SD) age 72 (17) years) was performed in a university hospital in the New Territories of Hong Kong in 2004.

Streptococcus suis in Hong Kong.

Streptococcus suis was isolated from 6.1% of raw pork meat from 3 of the 6 wet markets in 6 districts in Hong Kong. S.

Use of the housekeeping genes, gdh (zwf) and gki, in multilocus sequence typing to differentiate Streptococcus pneumoniae from Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus oralis.

Polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the housekeeping genes, gdh (zwf) and gki, based on the primers and alleles from multilocus sequence typing can be used to delineate and support the identity of clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae and differentiate from the closely related Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus oralis.

Rapid screening of fluoroquinolone resistance determinants in Streptococcus pneumoniae by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and single-strand conformational polymorphism.

A rapid method, using PCR-restriction fragment length and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), was applied to screen for mutations of the fluoroquinolone resistance determinants in Streptococcus pneumoniae. One hundred nonduplicate Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates with ciprofloxacin MICs of > or = 4.0 microg/ml from the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, years 2000 to 2003, were examined.