Features of the course of community-acquired pneumonia of pneumococcal etiology

Abstract

Aim;to study the incidence as well as the course of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by Pneumococcus and its resistant strains in the region of the Republic of Karelia. Methods:\Ne have examined 933 patients with CAP, among them 592 males (63.5%) and 341 females (36.5%) with an average age of 44.0±0.7 years. The diagnosis of CAP was established based on traditional clinical and roentgenological criteria. For all the patients general and bacteriological sputum analysis was carried out. The sensitivity of pneumococcal strains to antibiotics was determined by disk diffusion method. The frequency of pneumococcal strains resistant to three antibiotics (penicillin, erythromycin) was analyzed. Accepted clinical criteria were used to assess the severity of pneumonia, and to recognize complications and prolonged course of the disease. Statistical methods were applied to compare the severity of the disease, the relative frequency of complications and of prolonged course of CAP caused by different bacterial agents, including resistant strains of Pneumococcus. ftesu/rs:The incidence of pneumococcal infection among CAP patients in Karelia amounted to 30.2%, whereby Gram-negative enterobacteria were revealed in 6.4% of the patients, Staphylococcus in 2.1%, Haemophilus influenzae in 1.5%, rare flora in 2.5%, and in a significant number of patients, 57.2%, the etiology of pneumonia remained unverified. Penicillin-resistant Pneumococcus strains were revealed in 53.1% and erythromycin-resistant strains in 40.6% of the patients. Pneumonia caused by Pneumococcus was distinguished by a more favorable course than that caused by Gram-negative flora or Staphylococcus aureus, while it did not differ in the basic clinical parameters from pneumonia of undetermined etiology. The resistance of Pneumococcus to antibiotics did not affect the severity of clinical manifestations, but resulted in more frequent complications and prolonged course of pneumonia.

Keywords

community-acquired pneumonia / pneumococcus / disease severity / complications / prolonged course / resistance

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Larina N.A., Dudanova O.P., Stafeev S.V.