IDENTIFICATION AND ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERNS OF STREPTOCOCCUS AGALACTIAE

GBS-Group B streptococcus or Streptococcus agalactiae is a Gram-positive coccus found in 20% of healthy women as part of normal gastrointestinal and genital tract flora. It is associated with pathogenicity in immunocompromised, elderly and pregnant adults as well as infants and neonates. GBS are encapsulated organisms and sub divided into ten antigenically distinct capsular serotypes. GBS case treatment mainly performed with Penicillin G but Erythromicyn, Vancomycin and Clindamycin are recommended for penicillin-allergic individuals. In this study between March 2019 and September 2019 an anovaginal swabs were collected from 80 women at 35-37 weeks of gestation and 39 were identified as str. agalactiae. 24 str. agalactiae strains provided by clinic "Curation" were isolated from urine, vagina and rectum. Culturing, identification of GBS were carried out according to standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were determined by disk diffusion method. Our results revealed that in total from 104 samples 29% were Str. agalactiae. All GBS strains were all sensitive to Penicillin, Ampicilin and Vancomycin. 25% were resistant to Erythromycin and 13% to Clindamycin. Our study has shown that the prevalence of Streptococcus agalactiae in Georgia quite high and especially with Erythromycin-resistant strains, which makes treatment of penicillin allergic patients problematic. In this case only hope is vancomycin. Fortunately, vancomycin-resistant strains have not been identified; however the problem is still relevant. Obtained data could be used as a base for further epidemiological studies and also managing targeted new approaches of treatment and prevention of GBS.