Pneumococcal osteoarticular infections in children admitted to a Pediatric Reference Hospital from Misiones, Argentina. Thirteen years of surveillance

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a rare cause of osteoarticular infections. We describe 5 documented cases that occurred in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017 in patients admitted to the Pediatric Provincial Reference Hospital of Misiones. These cases corresponded to a 4-year-old boy and 4 girls aged 11, 10, 6 years and 4 months with a diagnosis of osteomyelitis of the scapula and humerus, arthritis of the hip, ankle and osteomyelitis of the distal fibula. All of them were in good general condition on admission and one of them was seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus. All the recovered isolates were susceptible to β-lactams and only one isolate showed joint resistance to macrolides and tetracycline. Three isolates were serotyped, 2 of which carried vaccine serotypes (19F and 7 F). Despite its low frequency, the etiology of S. pneumoniae should be considered among the osteoarticular infections. Our findings enhance the role of the Bacteriology laboratory in the diagnosis by microbiological culture and contribute to documenting the epidemiological behavior of this pathogen.