[Increase in gentamicin- and tobramycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from hospital patients (author's...

The increase, during a 5-year period (1975-79), in staphylococcal infections resistant to gentamicin and tobramycin has been evaluated in various units of a large Parisian hospital. Out of 3,788 infections, 539 were due to staphylococci that were resistant to gentamicin, tobramycin and kanamycin (GKTo phenotype). All isolates were methicillin-resistant strains, and 53% belonged to serotype 18. Depending upon individual hospital units two patterns of resistance were observed: a progressive one extending to 1979, with an annual average of 9% resistant strains, and a rapid one, which culminated in 1978 with 34% resistant strains.