Early-life carriage and antibiotic resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae in infants from Sierra Leone
Clara Menéndez
Streptococcus pneumoniae remains a major cause of child morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, with increasing macrolide resistance mediated by erm(B) and mef(A/E/I). Integrating phenotypic and sequencing-based approaches may improve antimicrobial resistance surveillance accuracy. This study assessed nasopharyngeal carriage and macrolide resistance of S. pneumoniae among young infants in Sierra Leone (November 2022–February 2023), nested within the ICARIA trial (NCT04235816) which evalua