[Sensitivity to antibiotics of Salmonella typhi and paratyphi strains isolated in Algeria 1979-1984]

Outbreaks of typhoid fever due to multiresistant strains of S. typhi have occurred in some countries. Monitoring of the susceptibility of S. typhi and paratyphi strains to antibiotics, especially those used to treat Salmonella infections, is therefore essential. In this paper, we report the results of our study of strains isolated in Algeria from 1979 through 1984. Studied strains were isolated in our laboratory from stool or blood samples or sent to us for confirmation of the diagnosis. We used agar dilution with IPA 20 medium (Mueller-Hinton medium enriched with tryptophan). 6,178 strains were tested, including 5,940 S. typhi strains (96.15%), 123 S. paratyphi A strains (1.99%) and 115 S. paratyphi B strains (1.86%). No resistance was found among the strains tested, whereas 7 resistant strains had been found between July 1973 and December 1978. These results indicate that resistant strains have not spread. However, as new resistant strains might emerge in the future, continued monitoring is needed.