DISTRIBUTION OF STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE SEROTYPES IN NASOPHARYNGEAL CARRIAGE AND IN INVASIVE PNEUMOCOCCAL DISEASE IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL:

To determine whether serotypes of S. pneumoniae isolated from the nasopharynx (NP) are representative of data from patients with invasive disease, we collected NP swab specimens from children, between 3 months and 5 years and obtained data from 105 children hospitalized with invasive disease. The prevalence of penicillin nonsusceptible strains in the NP carriage and invasive disease group was 16.4% and 17%, respectively, in the first period and 42% and 45% in the second period. The serotypes 23F, 6A, 14 and 19F were the most common in the NP study and 14, 1, 5 and 6B were the most common in invasive infections.