Prevalence of isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae putative serotype 6E in South Korea

The prevalence of serogroup 6 among 1,206 Streptococcus pneumoniae clinical isolates collected from Korean hospitals over three periods (1996 to 2001, 2004 to 2006, and 2008 to 2009) was investigated. The number of serogroup 6 isolates increased from 9.7 to 17.5% over the three periods. While the proportion of serotype 6A and 6D isolates increased significantly, that of serotype 6B isolates decreased. Twenty-four isolates (2.0%) were typed as the recently identified putative serotype 6E or genetic variants of serotype 6B. The results suggest that the lack of change in frequency of serotype 6B, in spite of the introduction of the PCV7 vaccine as seen in previous studies in South Korea, might be due mainly to the improper inclusion of putative serotype 6E in serotype 6B. All but three serotype 6E isolates belonged to CC90, indicating their clonal expansion.