Capsular types and susceptibility to penicillin of pneumococci isolated from cerebrospinal fluid or blood in Denmark, 1983-1988.

By means of the capsular reaction test, we typed 2,294 pneumococcal strains isolated from blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in Denmark during 1983-88.91% of the strains belonged to types included in the 23-valent vaccine. Among 254 pneumococcal isolates from blood and CSF from Danish children, types 6A + 6B, 18C, 14, 7F, 1 and 19F, in that order of frequency, were the most common ones, accounting for 68%. Among 2,031 pneumococcal strains from adults, the most common isolates were types 1, 3, 14, 7F, 4, and 6A + 6B, accounting for 50% of all pneumococcal strains isolated from patients with invasive disease. Penicillin-resistant invasive strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae are rare in Denmark (< 1%).