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A transversal pilot study of oropharyngeal carriage of Kingella kingae in healthy children younger than 6 months

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Abstract

Background

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the extent of oropharyngeal Kingella kingae carriage during the first 6 months of life.

Methods

We conducted a monocentric transversal pilot study on healthy children younger than 6 months in order to define the oropharyngeal carriage rate. Participants were recruited between December 2013 and September 2015 among children without symptoms or signs of invasive infections.

Results

We demonstrated an oropharyngeal carriage rate of 0.67% in children younger than 6 months. Due to the really low carriage rate, it was not possible to draw statistically significant conclusion about any other characteristic of our population.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that the oropharyngeal carriage of Kingella kingae among a Swiss population of healthy infants younger than 6 months is exceptional. The scarcity of colonization and disease in the early months of life suggests thus that defense against mucosal carriage and invasive infection is above all provided by vertically acquired immunity. Limited exposure of the neonates due to limited social contacts may also represent another factor avoiding neonates’ mucosal Kingella kingae carriage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Adolescent Department, University Hospitals of Geneva, Str Willy-Donzé 6, CH-1211, Geneva 14, Switzerland

    Vasiliki Spyropoulou & Gabriel Brändle

  2. Pediatric Sport Medicine and Obesity Care Program, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Albane Bertha Rosa Maggio

  3. Intensive Care Unit, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Rebecca Anderson della Llana

  4. Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Service of Infectious Diseases, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Abdessalam Cherkaoui, Gesuele Renzi & Jacques Schrenzel

  5. Genomic Research Laboratory, Service of Infectious Diseases, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Jacques Schrenzel

  6. Pediatric Emergency Division, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Sergio Manzano

  7. Pediatric Orthopedic Service, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Dimitri Ceroni

Authors
  1. Vasiliki Spyropoulou
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  2. Gabriel Brändle
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  3. Albane Bertha Rosa Maggio
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  4. Rebecca Anderson della Llana
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  5. Abdessalam Cherkaoui
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  6. Gesuele Renzi
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  7. Jacques Schrenzel
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  8. Sergio Manzano
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  9. Dimitri Ceroni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vasiliki Spyropoulou.

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Spyropoulou, V., Brändle, G., Maggio, A.B.R. et al. A transversal pilot study of oropharyngeal carriage of Kingella kingae in healthy children younger than 6 months. World J Pediatr 13, 615–617 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-017-0060-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-017-0060-3

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