Limited Added Value of Oropharyngeal Swabs for Detecting Pneumococcal Carriage in Adults

• Authors: Jennifer L. Farrar, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Herine Odiembo, Kenya Medical Research Institute; Arthur Odoyo, Kenya Medical Research Institute; Godfrey Bigogo, Kenya Medical Research Institute; Lindsay Kim, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Fernanda C. Lessa, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Daniel R. Feikin, Kenya Medical Research Institute; Robert Breiman, Emory University; Cynthia Whitney, Emory University; Maria G. Carvalho, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Fabiana C. Pimenta, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Journal Title: OPEN FORUM INFECTIOUS DISEASES
• Volume: Volume 7, Number 9
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC | 2020-09-01, Pages ofaa368-ofaa368
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa368
• Subjects: Biology, Microbiology; Health Sciences, Immunology
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Immunology; Infectious Diseases; Microbiology; adults; carriage; colonization; nasopharyngeal; oropharyngeal; Streptococcus pneumoniae; NASOPHARYNGEAL

Abstract

We compared pneumococcal isolation rates and evaluated the benefit of using oropharyngeal (OP) specimens in addition to nasopharyngeal (NP) specimens collected from adults in rural Kenya. Of 846 adults, 52.1% were colonized; pneumococci were detected from both NP and OP specimens in 23.5%, NP only in 22.9%, and OP only in 5.7%. Ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine strains were detected from both NP and OP in 3.4%, NP only in 4.1%, and OP only in 0.7%. Inclusion of OP swabs increased carriage detection by 5.7%; however, the added cost of collecting and processing OP specimens may justify exclusion from future carriage studies among adults.