As part of an intervention project, all patients in Malmöhus county with a culture positive for penicillin-resistant pneumococci, MIC > or =0.5 mg/L (PRP), have been registered since January 1995. Nasopharyngeal specimens were obtained from family members and close contacts of identified carriers. Children were denied attendance at regular day-care until PRP-negative. In 1995 and 1996, PRP were isolated from 882 individuals, 364 of whom had clinical infection and the remaining of whom were asymptomatic carriers. In 49%, the PRP were of serogroup 9, with MIC of penicillin 0.5-2.0 mg/L and resistance to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Further analyses with serotyping and genetic fingerprinting suggested strongly that most of the isolates belonged to a single serotype 9V clone. Month by month, an apparently continuous spread appeared from one municipality to a neighboring one. In most communities, the serotype 9V PRP appeared and disappeared within a few months. The active procedures of the intervention project may have limited the spread of the clone in the county.