OBJECTIVETo investigate the basic clinical characteristics and drug resistance of Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) infection in hospitalized children in the past two years.

METHODSA retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to analyze Hi strains isolated from the sputum and pharyngeal swabs of children aged 0-17 years who were hospitalized in the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu between June 2011 and May 2013.

RESULTSA total of 117 strains were isolated from 111 hospitalized children. There were 102 cases (91.9%) of respiratory infection and 9 cases (8.1%) of other diseases. The positive rates of Hi in children with bronchopneumonia or pneumonia (50.8%, 30/59) and in children with acute laryngotracheobronchitis (50.0%, 2/4) were relatively high, followed by in children with capillary bronchitis (34.6%, 9/26), in children with acute bronchitis (24.2%, 32/132), in children with herpangina (19.0%, 4/21), in children with asthmatoid bronchitis (17.9%, 5/28), in children with acute upper respiratory tract infection (11.8%, 9/76), in children with acute tonsillitis (8.2%, 7/85), and in children with neonatal pneumonia (5.6%, 3/54). There were significant differences in the rates of resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate (15% vs 23%; P=0.010) and chloramphenicol (25% vs 8%; P=0.015) between the two survey years. The frequencice of β-lactamase-nonproducing-ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) strains and β-lactamase-producing-amoxicilli/clavulanate-resistant (BLPACR) strains increased from 12% to 21% and from 13% to 19% respectively during the two survey years (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSHi plays an important role in the respiratory tract infection of children aged 0-17 years. The increasing trend of BLNAR and BLPACR rates makes it harder for antibiotic selection in clinical practice.