PROVENCE PNEUMOCOCCAL REGIONAL OBSERVATOR Y 1995 REPORT

We studied the epidemiology of S. pneumoniae in the Provence region of France. Fourteen laboratories provided extensive data on the 516 isol ates from 460 patients throughout the year 1995. Penicillin resistance was studied according to sex (293 males,165 females), age (187 childr en) and serotype. It was then compared to published data. We finally s tudied the performance of screening test for sensitivity to penicillin and cefotaxime, by using disks loaded with oxacillin (1 and 5 mg/l) a nd loracarbef. We confirm the increasing prevalence of penicillin resi stance among pneumococci (29%) and the multiresistant nature of strain s with diminished sensitivity to penicillin. Amoxicillin and cefotaxim e remained active (2% and 0.2% of resistant strains, respectively).