OBJECTIVETo investigate the distribution and the changes of drug resistance of common pathogenic bacteria in children with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) of Chengdu.

METHODSSputum specimens for bacterial cultures were collected from children with LRTL who had been admitted to the Chengdu Children's Hospital between 2001 and 2006. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed after bacteria had been identified. The results between 2001 and 2003 were compared with those between 2004 and 2006.

RESULTSHemophilus (24.3%) was the most common pathogenic bacteria for LRTI in children between 2001 and 2003, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (18.8%), Escherichia coli (18.2%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (11.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (10.0%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (6.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (6.4%) and other non-zymocyte (4.4%). Escherichia coli (23.7%) was the most common pathogenic bacteria in children with LRTL between 2004 and 2006, followed by Hemophilus (19.8%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (17.9%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (10.3%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (7.8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.0%) and other non-zymocyte (3.2%). Compared with the years of 2001-2003, the rate of drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics between 2004 and 2006 increased: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 18.0% vs 8.8%, Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci 70.5% vs 18.1%, Extended-spetrum beta-lactamase stains 44.4% vs 22.6%, and beta-lactamase production stains of Hemophilus influenzae 40.2% vs 20.1%.

CONCLUSIONSThe distribution of common pathogenic bacteria of children with LRTL has changed and the rate of drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics is increasing in recent three years in Chengdu.