Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of Streptococcus pneumoniae in china and comparison of MICs by agar dilution and E-test methods.
Beta-lactam resistance by Streptococcus pneumoniae is becoming a significant threat to public health worldwide. However, data concerning antibiotic susceptibility patterns in China have not been published. In this study, a total of 79 clinical isolates and 244 nasopharyngeal isolates of S. pneumoniae were recovered between June and November 1997 in Beijing. The agreement between the MICs (+/-1 log2 dilution) of penicillin and ceftriaxone obtained by the agar dilution and E-test methods for the 79 clinical strains was very good (97.5 and 93.7%, respectively). Of these 79 strains, 9 (11.4%) were intermediate and 2 (2.5%) were resistant to penicillin. Of the 244 nasopharyngeal strains, 32 (13.1%) were intermediate and 3 (1. 2%) were resistant to penicillin. The total of 277 penicillin-susceptible clinical and nasopharyngeal isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were 100% susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone, and cefotaxime. In the 35 penicillin-intermediate and -resistant nasopharyngeal strains, elevated MICs of amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone, and cefotaxime were seen for </=4 isolates. Of 244 nasopharyngeal isolates, the overall percentages of tetracycline, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, ofloxacin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance were 87.6, 74.0, 47.8, 3.7 and 63.3, respectively. Vancomycin and rifampin resistance were not detected. These findings demonstrate that the rate of penicillin-resistant pneumococci is relatively low in China compared to those of other Asian countries. Resistance to non-beta-lactams was much higher than to beta-lactams. The E-test and agar dilution methods appeared to be comparable in identifying resistant strains.
Department of Clinical Laboratories, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, People's Republic of China.
H
H
Wang
R
R
Huebner
M
M
Chen
K
K
Klugman
D000362:Agar; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects*
D000362:Agar