[Retrospective studies of resistance patterns of antibiotics in 1971 to 1974 (author's transl)]

A retrospective study was made of the resistance patterns of 16700 pathogenic bacterial strains from the region of Dordrecht (Netherlands) from the years 1971 through 1974. The importance of computer analysis for questions about resistance and antibiotic usage monitoring is supported. The practical importance of those analyses is the fact that antibiotics often have to be given without a known antibiogram. In those instances one must rely on historical data to guide the therapy and to compose a rational antibiotic utilization review. It should be interesting to repeat the study in other areas to establish an overall pattern for a country and to compare the findings on a country-by-country basis.