Antibiotic sensitivity of the Bacteroides fragilis group in Europe. European Study Group

Rates of resistance to 12 antibiotics were determined for 1,289 isolates of Bacteroides fragilis group submitted in 1988-1989 by 22 laboratories in 15 European countries. There was no resistance to metronidazole (breakpoint 8 mg/l) and only one isolate was resistant to chloramphenicol (breakpoint 8 mg/l). Resistance was uncommon for imipenem (0.3% at greater than 4 mg/l), amoxicillin/clavulanate (1% at greater than 8 mg/l), cefoxitin (3% at greater than 32 mg/l), mezlocillin (6% at greater than 64 mg/l) and clindamycin (9% at greater than 4 mg/l). Resistance was the rule for ampicillin (93% at greater than 4 mg/l), ciprofloxacin (56% at greater than 4 mg/l) and tetracycline (64% at greater than 4 mg/l). Bacteroides fragilis, the commonest species, was generally the most sensitive: resistance of this organism was uncommon for cefotetan (4% at greater than 32 mg/l) and ceftazidime (12% at greater than 32 mg/l) to which the other species were more often resistant. There were small but significant differences between laboratories and countries for many of the antibiotics. Regionally the most striking differences were for clindamycin where resistance in Bacteroides fragilis was most common in the South and for tetracycline where resistance in Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Bacteroides uniformis was least common in the North.