RECENT DATA ON THE ANTIBIOTIC-SENSITIVITY OF STREPTOCOCCUS-PNEUMONIAE(PNEUMOCOCCI) - THE IMPORTANCE OF PENICILLIN-RESISTANT ISOLATES

Antibiotic-resistant pneumococci, including strains resistant to penic illin, are being isolated with increasing frequency also in Europe. Th erefore, we studied the antibiotic sensitivity to penicillin, erythrom ycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin in 1 31 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae; most of them were isolated fro m patients with systemic infections. A reduced susceptibility to penic illin was found in 7.6% (n = 10) of the Streptococcus pneumoniae strai ns. For the first time in Germany, in the present investigation two pn eumococcal strains highly resistant to penicillin were isolated (minim al inhibitory concentration [MIC] values greater-than-or-equal-to 2 mg /1). These strains exhibited high MIC values against various cephalosp orins as well. 10.7% of all pneumococci were resistant to tetracycline , resistance to erythromycin was found in 3.8% of the isolates. The em ergence of pneumococci in Germany with reduced susceptibility to penic illin underscores the importance to include alternative drugs in sensi tivity testing of pneumococci involved in systemic infections. Dependi ng on the localization of the infection, parenteral third generation c ephalosporins, glycopeptides and quinolone derivatives are primarily a dequate in the treatment of infections caused by penicillin-resistant pneumococci.