STREPTOCOCCUS-PNEUMONIAE WITH REDUCED SUS CEPTIBILITY TO PENICILLIN IN THE REGION OF SFAX, TUNISIA (1994-1995)

In the last fifteen years, the frequency of Streptococcus pneumoniae r esistance to penicillin has been regularly increasing with various deg rees in different geographical zones. In order to determine the epidem iological situation in our region, we studied penicillin G susceptibil ity of S. pneumoniae strains isolated in our laboratory for 2 years 19 94 and 1995. The S. pneumoniae strains with reduced susceptibility to penicillin G (PSDP) were detected by oxacillin screen test (using 1 mu g oxacillin disk) and completed with the determination of penicillin G MIG. We isolated 107 S. pneumoniae strains (41 in 1994 and 66 in 199 5); 12 of them had reduced susceptibility to penicillin (11,2%). The s tudy showed a difference in the percentage of penicillin susceptibilit y between invasive (5,1%) and non invasive strains (28,6%). The rate o f strains with reduced susceptibility to penicillin increased from 7,3 % in 1994 to 13,6% in 1995 with a higher degree of resistance in 1995. We concluded that our region is not spared from the problem of the de crease susceptibility to penicillin G of S. pneumoniae. These results should prompt us to survey the evolution of such resistance.