SURVEY OF ENTEROCOCCAL SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERNS IN BELGIUM

A national surveillance study was performed in order to identify the e nterococci causing important infections, to determine their susceptibi lities to first-choice agents for treatment, and to characterize the p henotypes and genotypes of the glycopeptide-resistant strains. A total of 472 isolates were collected between 15 January and 15 April 1993. The ability of the API rapid ID 32 STREP gallery to identify enterococ ci was evaluated, The majority of the Belgian enterococci were identif ied as E. faecalis (89.4%), E. faecium and other enterococci were pres ent in small percentages only (9.1 and 1.5%, respectively). The API ra pid ID 32 STREP system identified 88.6% of the strains with an excelle nt or very good identification score, For the majority of the strains with uncertain identification scores, the results of a single test onl y were aberrant, Only 2.3% of the strains remained unidentified, High- level aminoglycoside resistance was widespread in E. faecalis (strepto mycin, 50.8%; gentamicin, 8.7%), and the emergence of ciprofloxacin re sistance was found to be associated with aminoglycoside resistance, E. faecium is generally more resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, b ut glycopeptide-resistant strains (1.5%) have not yet become widesprea d.