Clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae with different susceptibilities to ceftriaxone and cefotaxime

Ceftriaxone and cefotaxime are extended-spectrum cephalosporins previously demonstrated to possess very similar in vitro activities against Streptococcus pneumoniae. Anecdotal reports of isolates with divergent in vitro susceptibilities to ceftriaxone and cefotaxime have been published. To determine the prevalence of pneumococcal isolates with divergent ceftriaxone and cefotaxime susceptibilities, we tested 1,000 clinical isolates collected by U.S. laboratories in 2001-2002 by broth microdilution and E-test. The percentages of isolates susceptible to ceftriaxone and cefotaxime were significantly different by both broth microdilution (98.6 and 96.6%, respectively; P < 0.05) and E-test (98.3 and 95.8%; P < 0.001). The differences observed were due solely to the activities of the two agents against penicillin-resistant isolates. Twenty-six of 188 penicillin-resistant isolates (13.8%) demonstrated different ceftriaxone and cefotaxime MIC interpretative phenotypes when tested by broth microdilution; 18 isolates were concurrently ceftriaxone susceptible and cefotaxime intermediate, 6 were ceftriaxone intermediate and cefotaxime resistant, and 2 were ceftriaxone susceptible and cefotaxime resistant (1.1% of penicillin-resistant isolates; 0.2% of all isolates tested). Sixteen of the 26 isolates (65%) were from southern U.S. states. The 26 isolates had serogroups and serotypes (6, 9, 14, 19, and 23) commonly associated with penicillin-resistant isolates; SmaI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified 18 isolates (69%) dispersed among five subtype groups and 8 isolates that were unrelated to any of the other isolates. We conclude that certain isolates of penicillin-resistant pneumococci are less susceptible to cefotaxime than to ceftriaxone and that these isolates are not the result of the spread of a single clone. Whether such isolates have increased in prevalence over time remains unknown.