[Activity of different antimicrobial agents against penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae]

Since the first strains of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae were isolated in the 1960s, the rate of resistance has increased world- wide, though with geographic variations. Currently, the prevalence and patterns of antibiotic resistance in this microorganism vary widely from one country to another, as well as within in the same country. In our study we evaluated the in vitro susceptibility of 299 isolates of S. pneumoniae from patients with community-acquired respiratory tract infections from 1998-2000 to different antimicrobial agents. The following resistance results were obtained: 32.11% to penicillin, 4.35% to amoxicillin, 3.68% to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, 69.9% to cefaclor, 32.44% to cefpodoxime, 34.11% to cefuroxime, and 24.41% to azithromycin. For cefixime and ceftibuten there are no NCCLS breakpoint criteria.