Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 58, 50-52, 2005
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Short Communication
Major Bacteria of Community-Acquired Respiratory Tract Infections in Turkey
Ezgi Ozyilmaz, Ozay Arikan Akan1, Meral Gulhan, Kamruddin Ahmed2,3* and Tsuyoshi Nagatake4
Ataturk Chest Diseases and Chest Surgery Central Education and Research Hospital, 1Central Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, 2Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 3Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and 4Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
(Received August 2, 2004. Accepted October 22, 2004)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Section of Molecular
Epidemiology, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology,
Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-12-4
Sakamoto machi, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan. Tel: +81-95-849-7063,
Fax: +81-95-849-7064, E-mail: kahmed@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
SUMMARY: To determine the bacterial etiology of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in Turkey, quantitative cultures of sputum were carried out. The major pathogens for LTRIs were found to be Haemophilus influenzae, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Moraxella catarrhalis. Only 6.1% of the H. inlfuenzae and all strains of M. catarrhalis were b-lactamase producers. An E-test showed that 31.2% of the S. pneumoniae strains had an intermediate resistance to penicillin, and the remaining strains were susceptible; no fully resistant strains were detected.