[Antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae strains isolated from sterile body sites]

Antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae has become an important issue in the last years. Penicillin resistance rates vary among countries and among different regions in countries. It is important to know penicillin resistance rates among isolates, in planning empirical antimicrobial therapy in pneumococcal infections. In this study, the antibiotic resistance rates of S. pneumoniae strains isolated from sterile body sites were investigated with both E-test and disc diffusion methods for penicillin, erythromycin, levofloxacin, and with only disc diffusion method for chloramphenicol, ceftriaxone, vancomycin, rifampin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), clindamycin, and tetracycline. A total of 165 strains were included into the study of which 52 were isolated from blood, 46 from cerebrospinal fluids, 25 from pleural fluids, 24 from dacryocystitis materials, 13 from tympanocentesis materials, 3 from joint fluids and 2 from wound specimens. Intermediate resistance to penicilin was 18.8%, while the resistance rates to TMP-SMX, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, erythromycin and levofloxacin were detected as 21.2%, 10.9%, 9.7%, 5.4% and 0.6%, respectively. None of the isolates were highly resistant to penicillin, nor resistant to vancomycin, ceftriaxone and rifampin. In conclusion, penicillin is still the first line therapeutic agent for pneumococcal infections except for severe infections such as meningitis, in our region.