Serotypes and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from Invasive Pneumococcal Disease and Asymptomatic Carriage in a Pre-vaccination Period, in Algeria.

In Algeria, few data is available concerning the distribution of pneumococcal serotypes and respective antibiotic resistance for the current pre-vaccination period, which is a public health concern. We identified the most frequent Streptococcus pneumoniae serogroup/types implicated in invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD; n = 80) and carriage (n = 138) in Algerian children younger than 5 years old. Serogroup/types of 78 IPD isolates were identified by capsular typing using a sequential multiplex PCR.

Capsular typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated in an Algerian hospital using a new multiplex PCR-based scheme.

We developed a new sequential multiplex-PCR-based typing scheme (MPBTS) for pneumococcal capsular classification. The serogroup/type of 37 control isolates obtained by the Quellung reaction, MPBTS, and nucleotide sequencing, were fully concordant. The serogroups/types of 75 invasive isolates determined by MPBTS, presented 100% specificity and 96% sensitivity, when compared with the Quellung reaction.