ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AMONG BACTERIAL ISOLATES FROM CHILDREN

Antimicrobial resistance patterns were studied in isolates from childr en hospitalized with respiratory tract infections in Mexico City and C uernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, and from healthy children attending a day- care center in Cuernavaca. All the children were aged <5 years. We det ermined the in vitro susceptibilities of 294 isolates to antimicrobial agents of potential use in the treatment of diseases caused by Haemop hilus influenzae (56 strains from the hospitalized patients and 82 fro m the healthy children), Streptococcus pneumoniae (39 from patients an d 44 from healthy children), and Moraxella catarrhalis (16 from patien ts and 57 from healthy children). Thirty-four (25%) of the H influenza e strains (17 were type b) produced beta-lactamase and were thus resis tant to ampicillin. Forty-eight (58%) of the S pneumoniae isolates wer e resistant to one or more antimicrobials. Serotypes or serogroups 6A/ 6B, 23F, 14, 19, and 15 were most prevalent. Fifty-three (73%) of the M catarrhalis strains were resistant to ampicillin, 48 (66%) were resi stant to cefaclor, and a few were resistant to trimethoprim/sulfametho xazole or cefotaxime; they were, however, susceptible to the other ant imicrobials tested. The results indicate that changes can occur in the susceptibility of these pathogens and that selective susceptibility t esting and epidemiologic studies in hospitalized patients and children in day-care centers are necessary.