ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING (AGAR DISK DIFFUSION AND AGAR DILUTION) OF CLINICAL ISOLATES OF CORYNEBACTERIUM-JEIKEIUM

Thirty-three clinical isolates of Corynebacterium jeikeium were examin ed for susceptibility to 27 antimicrobial drugs with the agar dilution test. Sheep-blood-supplemented Mueller-Hinton agar performed better t han Wilkins-Chalgren agar. Disk susceptibility (Bauer-Kirby) tests wer e carried out in parallel with 24 of the chemotherapeutic agents. All isolates were susceptible to teicoplanin and vancomycin. All isolates resisted fosfomycin, mupirocin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The isolates varied in susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, fusi dic acid, ofloxacin, and tetracycline; most were susceptible to rifamp in. Surprisingly few discrepancies between agar dilution and disk diff usion tests were encountered when utilizing NCCLS interpretive criteri a currently valid for enterococcal isolates.