Drug resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes isolated in Japan

Drug resistance of Streptococcus pyogenes strains isolated during 1974 and 1975 in various districts in Japan were surveyed and compared with an earlier survey of 1970 to 1973. Of 1,021 strains, tetracycline-, macrolide antibiotic-, lincomycin-, and chloramphenicol-resistant strains were demonstrated at frequencies of 80.3, 62.3, 60.8, and 57.9%, respectively. Distinct group resistances to penicillin and aminoglycoside antibiotics could not be identified among the strains examined. It was characteristic that quadruple and triple resistances were manifested among the strains resistant to macrolide antibiotics, lincomycin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol, and they were confined to the T-type 12. The emergence of multiply resistant streptococcal strains was due mostly to the rapid increase in isolation frequency of macrolide antibiotic- or macrolide antibiotics-lincomycin-resistant strains.