title: Susceptibility of antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant hospital bacteria to disinfectants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether hospital strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria exhibited altered susceptibility to disinfectants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antibiotic-susceptible bacteria were obtained from American Type Culture Collection: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella choleraesuis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Hospital strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria were obtained from clinical isolates, including: S aureus, S epidermidis, E coli, Enterococcus species, K pneumoniae, and P aeruginosa. The Association of Official Analytical Chemist's use-dilution method was used to test these 12 strains of 7 bacterial pathogens for their susceptibility to a phenol and a quaternary ammonium compound. For five pathogens, we tested a susceptible and a more resistant strain in 20 comparative trials (5 pathogens, 2 disinfectants, 2 dilutions per disinfectant).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In our 20 comparative trials, the antibiotic-resistant strains exhibited an increased resistance to the disinfectant in only a single instance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate that the development of antibiotic resistance does not appear to be correlated to increased resistance to disinfectants.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Rutala
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Stiegel
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Sarubbi
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009657:North Carolina; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D004202:Disinfectants; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds