SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE

Community treatment with azithromycin for trachoma is not associated with antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae at 1 year

B D Gaynor¹, K A Holbrook², J P Whitcher¹, S O Holm³, H C Jha⁴, J S P Chaudhary⁴, R C Bhatta⁴ and T Lietman¹

¹ The Francis I Proctor Foundation and the Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
² Community Health Epidemiology and Disease Control, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, USA
³ The Francis I Proctor Foundation
⁴ Geta Eye Hospital, Geta, Nepal

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Bruce D Gaynor, MD, The Francis I Proctor Foundation and the Department of Ophthalmology, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA 94143–0944, USA;
bgaynor{at}itsa.ucsf.edu

Aims: To determine if macrolide resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae will be a major concern in areas that receive annual mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted of nasopharyngeal S pneumoniae isolates for susceptibility to azithromycin 1 year after administering a single dose of azithromycin to treat trachoma in a village in Nepal.

Results: S pneumoniae was isolated from 50 (86%) of 57 nasopharyngeal cultures and no resistance to azithromycin was detected.

Conclusion: The authors were unable to demonstrate that mass azithromycin therapy for trachoma produced macrolide resistant S pneumoniae that persists until the next scheduled annual treatment.

Keywords: trachoma; azithromycin; streptococcus; macrolide

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