Community-Acquired Pneumonia Due to Penicillin-Resistant Pneumococci

Until 1967 all strains of pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae) were thought to be highly sensitive to penicillin.1 , 2 In that year Hansman and Bullen3 described a patient with hypogammaglobulinemia and bronchiectasis in whom a strain of pneumococcus that was relatively insensitive to penicillin was isolated from the sputum. Reports followed of the occurrence of strains with an even greater resistance to penicillin4 , 5 as well as resistance to other antibiotics to which the pneumococcus had previously been sensitive.6 7 8 Previous studies in South Africa have shown that infections due to resistant pneumococci, as well as asymptomatic carrier states, have occurred almost exclusively . . .