title: Activity of eight antibacterial agents on Staphylococcus epidermidis attached to Teflon catheters.
abstract: The presence of a Teflon catheter had no effect on the in-vitro activity of a range of antibacterial agents against slime producing and non-producing Staphylococcus epidermidis strains as determined by a microdilution assay. The susceptibility of S. epidermidis attached to Teflon catheters for 6, 24 and 48 h was also evaluated. MICs for planktonic and attached bacteria were similar. When bacteria attached to Teflon for 6 h were used as inocula, MBC values increased 32-8192-fold for the antibacterial agents tested. Similar results were observed when bacteria attached for 24 and 48 h were used as inocula. The activity of a high concentration (16 x MBC) of these antimicrobial agents against S. epidermidis biofilms in Teflon catheters was evaluated; for five slime non-producing strains, the highest reduction (around 99%) in bacterial viability was produced by cloxacillin and teicoplanin; for the slime producers, the highest effect (99.5% reduction) was shown by amikacin, clindamycin cloxacillin and ciprofloxacin but all cases still showed bacterial counts higher than 10(3) cfu/catheter segment. It is concluded that adherence of S. epidermidis to Teflon catheters decreases the bactericidal activity of the antibacterial agents tested in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ramirez de Arellano
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pascual
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martinez-Martinez
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Perea
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene / Q000378:metabolism*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C025431:extracellular slime proteins, bacterial; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene