Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates and the antimicrobial susceptibility of such isolates in children with otitis media.

The ability of the recently licensed 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to cover isolates that cause otitis media, especially drug-resistant ones, was assessed using 500 recently obtained US isolates. Of these isolates, 418 (84%) belonged to vaccine-related serogroups, whereas 82 (16%) belonged to non-vaccine-related serogroups. Serotype 3 accounted for 48 (59%) of the non-vaccine-related serogroups. In addition, 93% of the isolates from patients < or =3 years of age belonged to serotypes that were included in or related to the heptavalent vaccine, compared with 49% of the isolates from older patients (P=.001). Most of the isolates (98%-100%) that were resistant to the antimicrobial agents tested were covered by the heptavalent vaccine, including 95.1% of the isolates from patients <2 years of age. The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine could therefore potentially provide protection against all but 1 (type 3) of the common otitis media-associated pneumococcal serogroups identified in this study as well as against 98% of antibiotic-resistant isolates.