Pediatric Pneumococcal Eye Infection and Changes in Antibiotic Susceptibility: A Retrospective Study

This retrospective study analyzed the antimicrobial susceptibility of pneumococcus isolated from eye discharge of pediatric patients. It included 65 patients, stratified by age (<2 years vs. ≥2 years) and date of isolation of pneumococcus (earlier period, 1994-2013 vs. later period, 2014-2024). There were no differences between the age groups in antimicrobial susceptibility. Between the periods, antibiotic susceptibility showed no significant difference for cefotaxime (83.3% vs. 63.8%) and levofloxacin (100% vs. 95.5%), but there was a significant difference for penicillin susceptibility (48.5% vs. 16.7%, P=0.035). The results suggest an increase in non-susceptibility to penicillin in the later period.