TY - JOUR AU - Melander, Eva AU - Hansson, Hans-Bertil AU - Persson, Kristina AU - Ringberg, Håkan T1 - Limited Spread of Penicillin-Nonsusceptible Pneumococci, Skåne County, Sweden T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2004 VL - 10 IS - 6 SP - 1082 SN - 1080-6059 AB - In response to increasing frequencies of penicillin-nonsusceptible pneumococci (PNSP), for which the MIC of penicillin was ≥0.12 mg/L, in Skåne County, southern Sweden, national recommendations were initiated in 1995 to limit the spread of pneumococci with high MICs (≥0.5 mg/L) of penicillin (penicillin-resistant pneumococci [PRP]), especially among children of preschool age. Traditional communicable disease control measures were combined with actions against inappropriate antimicrobial drug use. During the first 6 years that these recommendations were applied in Skåne County, the average frequency of penicillin-resistant pneumococci has been stable at ≈2.6%, as has the average PNSP frequency (7.4%). However, PNSP have been unevenly distributed in the county, with the highest frequencies in the southwest. Simultaneously, the rate of antimicrobial drug use for children <6 years of age was reduced by 20%. Thus the spread of PNSP between and within the municipalities in the county has been limited. KW - Streptococcus pneumonia KW - drug resistance KW - microbial KW - antibiotics KW - children KW - community KW - drug utilization KW - intervention studies KW - Sweden DO - 10.3201/eid1006.030488 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/6/03-0488_article ER - End of Reference