Observations on the nasopharyngeal carriage of Haemophilus influenzae type b in children in Kampala, Uganda.

Haemophilus influenzae type b was isolated from 4.5% of outpatient children living in various parts of Kampala city and its surroundings. In contrast, this serotype was carried by up to 53% (average 29%) of 14 to 18 children living as a group in an orphanage. This finding indicates that the high carriage rate for this serotype demonstrated by Turk (1963) in a group of orphanage infants in Jamaica was not an isolated finding, and that it may be expected where large groups of children live together.H. influenzae type b did not appear to be a readily transmitted organism even in that group of children with a high carriage rate. This suggests that in ordinary open communities the transmission of this serotype from one household to another may be an extremely rare event.