Laboratory diagnosis

Bacterium etiological diagnosis. Blood cultures and pleural fluid cultures (if the patient required thoracocentesis) were performed in all hospitalized patients. Samples with the usual methodology for bacterial identification were analyzed at the Masvernat Hospital laboratory.

Isolation of S. pneumoniae. The isolates would be submitted to the Infectious Diseases National Institute “Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán” for confirmation, serotyping, and antimicrobial susceptibility. Serotyping was performed by Quellung reaction and susceptibility testing by CLSI agar dilution method. MIC were interpreted according CLSI guidelines (22).

A nasopharyngeal aspirate was performed in case a respiratory viral infection was epidemiologically and/or clinically suspected.