Causative agent distribution and antibiotic therapy assessment among adult patients with community acquired pneumonia in Chinese urban population.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of predominant microbial patterns in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) constitutes the basis for initial decisions about empirical antimicrobial treatment, so a prospective study was performed during 2003-2004 among CAP of adult Chinese urban populations. METHODS: Qualified patients were enrolled and screened for bacterial, atypical, and viral pathogens by sputum and/or blood culturing, and by antibody seroconversion test. Antibiotic treatment and patient outcome were also assessed. RESULTS: Non-viral pathogens were found in 324/610 (53.1%) patients among whom M. pneumoniae was the most prevalent (126/610, 20.7%). Atypical pathogens were identified in 62/195 (31.8%) patients carrying bacterial pathogens. Respiratory viruses were identified in 35 (19%) of 184 randomly selected patients with adenovirus being the most common (16/184, 8.7%). The nonsusceptibility of S. pneumoniae to penicillin and azithromycin was 22.2% (Resistance (R): 3.2%, Intermediate (I): 19.0%) and 79.4% (R: 79.4%, I: 0%), respectively. Of patients (312) from whom causative pathogens were identified and antibiotic treatments were recorded, clinical cure rate with beta-lactam antibiotics alone and with combination of a beta-lactam plus a macrolide or with fluoroquinolones was 63.7% (79/124) and 67%(126/188), respectively. For patients having mixed M. pneumoniae and/or C. pneumoniae infections, a better cure rate was observed with regimens that are active against atypical pathogens (e.g. a beta-lactam plus a macrolide, or a fluoroquinolone) than with beta-lactam alone (75.8% vs. 42.9%, p = 0.045). CONCLUSION: In Chinese adult CAP patients, M. pneumoniae was the most prevalent with mixed infections containing atypical pathogens being frequently observed. With S. pneumoniae, the prevalence of macrolide resistance was high and penicillin resistance low compared with data reported in other regions.

[A multicentre study on the pathogenic agents in 665 adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia in cities of China].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the pathogenic causes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adult patients in China, the relation of previous antibiotic use and the Pneumonia Patient Outcome Research Team (PORT) classification to microbial etiology, and the prevalence of drug resistance of common CAP bacteria. METHODS: A prospective study was performed on 665 consecutive adult patients with CAP at 12 centers in 7 Chinese cities during one year. The etiology of pneumonia was considered if one of the following criteria was met: (1) valid sputum sample yielding one or more predominant strains; (2) blood cultures yielding a bacterial pathogen; (3) seroconversion, a > or = 4-fold increase or decrease titers of antibodies to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of respiratory tract isolates was determined using the agar dilution method. RESULTS: Pathogens were identified in 324/610 patients (53.1%) with valid serum samples and sputum cultures as follows: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (126, 20.7%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (63, 10.3%), Haemophilus influenzae (56, 9.2%), Chlamydia pneumoniae (40, 6.6%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (37, 6.1%), Legionella pneumophila (31, 5.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (23, 3.8%), Escherichia coli (10, 1.6%), Moraxella catarrhalis (8, 1.3%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (6, 1.0%). Of 195 patients with a bacterial pathogen, an atypical pathogen was identified in 62 (10.2%) cases. The non-susceptibility rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae to penicillin, azithromycin, and moxifloxacin was 20.3%, 75.4% and 4.3% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Atypical pathogens have important role in CAP, with Mycoplasma pneumoniae being the most common pathogen, and mixed infection of atypical pathogens with bacteria was found in 10.2% of the cases. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae remain the most important bacteria for CAP. More than 75.0% of Streptococcus pneumoniae was resistant to macrolides and 20.3% was resistant to penicillin.