[Epidemiological survey of Haemophilus influenzae-positive hospitalized children: a retrospective analysis]

To investigate the basic clinical characteristics and drug resistance of Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) infection in hospitalized children in the past two years.

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to analyze Hi strains isolated from the sputum and pharyngeal swabs of children aged 0-17 years who were hospitalized in the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu between June 2011 and May 2013.

A total of 117 strains were isolated from 111 hospitalized children. There were 102 cases (91.9%) of respiratory infection and 9 cases (8.1%) of other diseases. The positive rates of Hi in children with bronchopneumonia or pneumonia (50.8%, 30/59) and in children with acute laryngotracheobronchitis (50.0%, 2/4) were relatively high, followed by in children with capillary bronchitis (34.6%, 9/26), in children with acute bronchitis (24.2%, 32/132), in children with herpangina (19.0%, 4/21), in children with asthmatoid bronchitis (17.9%, 5/28), in children with acute upper respiratory tract infection (11.8%, 9/76), in children with acute tonsillitis (8.2%, 7/85), and in children with neonatal pneumonia (5.6%, 3/54). There were significant differences in the rates of resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate (15% vs 23%; P=0.010) and chloramphenicol (25% vs 8%; P=0.015) between the two survey years. The frequencice of β-lactamase-nonproducing-ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) strains and β-lactamase-producing-amoxicilli/clavulanate-resistant (BLPACR) strains increased from 12% to 21% and from 13% to 19% respectively during the two survey years (P>0.05).

Hi plays an important role in the respiratory tract infection of children aged 0-17 years. The increasing trend of BLNAR and BLPACR rates makes it harder for antibiotic selection in clinical practice.