CANADIAN NATIONAL SURVEY OF PREVALENCE OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AMONG CLINICAL ISOLATES OF STREPTOCOCCUS-PNEUMONIAE

The antimicrobial susceptibilities of 1,089 clinical isolates of Strep tococcus pneumoniae obtained from 39 laboratories across Canada betwee n October 1994 and August 1995 were determined. A total of 91 isolates (8.4%) demonstrated intermediate resistance (MIC, 0.1 to 1.0 mu g/ml) and 36 (3.3%) had high-level resistance (MIC, greater than or equal t o 2.0 mu g/ml) to penicillin. Penicillin-resistant strains were more l ikely to have been recovered from normally sterile sites (P = 0.005) a nd to be cross-resistant to several beta-lactam and non-beta-lactam an timicrobial agents (P < 0.05). These results indicate that there has b een a recent significant increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resi stant S. pneumoniae in Canada.