A 1-year study of antibiotic resistance among paediatric pneumococcal isolates in 1995 from four regions of France

The main object of this study was to describe the features of antibiotic re sistance in pneumococci from children in four regions of France in 1995. De spite the high prevalence (40%) of pneumococci with diminished susceptibilt y to penicillin (PDSP), resistance to amoxycillin (0.8%) and cefotaxime (0. 4%) was rare; 16% of pneumococci were resistant to penicillin G (PRP, MIC > 1 mg/l). PDSP showed the expected resistance to macrolides (67%) and cotri moxazole (57%) and were predominantly serotypes 23F, 14, 9 and 6. This stud y by the Regional Pneumococcal Observatories confirms the high prevalence a nd the main characteristics of antibiotic resistance among pneumococci isol ated from children. Nevertheless, the resistance to all antibiotics was low er than that found in French multicentre, nationwide surveys, possibly beca use of differences in the mode of strain collection and geographic origin. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. and International Society of Chemotherapy. A ll rights reserved.