Antibiotic Resistance: Relationship to Persistence of Group A Streptococci in the Upper Respiratory Tract

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 971-975
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gerber

Despite the use of penicillin for more than 40 years in treating GABHS infections, there has been no significant change in the in vitro susceptibility of GABHS to penicillin. Reported failures to eradicate GABHS from the upper respiratory tracts of patients with pharyngitis and the apparent resurgence of serious Group A streptococcal infections and their sequelae probably are not related to the emergence of penicillin resistance. Although erythromycin resistance in GABHS had been a major problem in Japan and continues to be a major problem in Finland, it has not been a problem in this country. The susceptibility of GABHS to the newer macrolide antibiotics appears to be similar to that of erythromycin. Comprehensive, community-wide programs to continuously monitor for erythromycin resistance in GABHS would be difficult to justify. However, because little is known about how erythromycin resistance in GABHS is acquired or spread, it would be reasonable to periodically monitor isolates of GABHS for erythromycin resistance. A substantial proportion of GABHS are currently resistant to tetracyclines and these agents are inappropriate for treating GABHS infections. Although little recent information is available about the susceptibility of GABHS to sulfonamides, these agents have been shown to be ineffective in eradicating GABHS from the upper respiratory tract regardless of the in vitro sensitivities. GABHS have not been shown to be resistant to any of the commonly used oral cephalosporins; however, there is a great deal of variability among these agents in their activity against GABHS. Clindamycin resistance in GABHS has remained unusual. This agent is an alternative for treating GABHS infections due to macrolide-resistant strains in patients who cannot be treated with beta-lactam antibiotics. There is no reason, based on the in vitro susceptibilities of GABHS, to change the current recommendations for treating GABHS infections with penicillin and for using erythromycin for patients who are allergic to penicillin.

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1039-1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
E O Mason ◽  
L B Lamberth ◽  
S L Kaplan

Two oxazolidinones and ceftriaxone, imipenem, rifampin, and vancomycin were tested against 162 penicillin-intermediate and 68 penicillin-resistant strains of pneumococci. U-100592 is two- to fourfold more active than U-100766 against penicillin-resistant pneumococci. The MICs of U-100592 at which 90% of the isolates were inhibited were 0.25 and 0.5 microgram/ml for penicillin-intermediate and -resistant strains, respectively, and 0.5 microgram/ml for ceftriaxone-susceptible, -intermediate, and -resistant strains. U-100592 MICs for 7 of 230 strains (2 from blood, 3 from middle-ear fluid, and 2 from the upper respiratory tract) were 1 microgram/ml.


Author(s):  
Riku Metsälä ◽  
Solja Ala-Korpi ◽  
Juha Rannikko ◽  
Merja Helminen ◽  
Marjo Renko

AbstractPolymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostics for Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) from the respiratory tract has become widely available, but the interpretation of the results remains unclear. M. pneumoniae has been suggested to cause mainly mild and self-limiting infections or asymptomatic carriage. However, systematic analyses of the association between PCR results and clinical findings are scarce. This study aimed to clarify the clinical features of PCR-positive M. pneumoniae infections in a hospital setting. We reviewed 103 PCR-positive patients cared for in a university hospital during a 3-year period. Data on age, sex, health condition, acute symptoms, other pathogens found, laboratory and X-ray results and treatments were collected. Over 85% of the patients had a triad of typical symptoms: fever, cough and shortness of breath. Symptoms in the upper respiratory tract were rare. In 91% of the cases, M. pneumoniae was the only pathogen found. The highest incidence was found in the age group of 30–40 years, and 68% of the patients did not have any underlying diseases. Most patients were initially empirically treated with beta-lactam antibiotics and needed 2–4 changes in their treatment. Only 6% were discharged without an antibiotic effective against M. pneumoniae. This study shows that M. pneumoniae often led to hospitalisation and that patients needed appropriate antimicrobial treatment to recover. Mixed infections were rare, and situations that could be interpreted as carriage did not occur.


ILAR Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. E43-E54 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Steukers ◽  
A. P. Vandekerckhove ◽  
W. Van den Broeck ◽  
S. Glorieux ◽  
H. J. Nauwynck

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
GRAŻYNA SZYMAŃSKA ◽  
MAGDALENA SZEMRAJ ◽  
ELIGIA M. SZEWCZYK

The activity of beta-lactam antibiotics (oxacillin, cloxacillin, cephalotin), vancomycin, gentamicin and rifampicin applied in vitro individually and in combination against 37 nosocomial methicillin-resistant strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) was assessed to demonstrate the heterogeneity of this group of bacteria and estimate the chance of the efficacy of such therapy. The strains belonged to four species: Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus hominis. They originated from a hospital environment and from the skin of medical staff of the intensive care unit of a paediatric ward at a university hospital. All strains were methicillin-resistant, according to CLSI standards, but individual strains differed in MIC(ox) values. Susceptibility to other tested antibiotics was also characteristic for the species. The increased susceptibility to antibiotics in combinations, tested by calculating the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index, concerned 26 out of 37 investigated strains and it was a feature of a particular species. Combinations of vancomycin and cephalotin against S. epidermidis and oxacillin with vancomycin were significant, as well as cephalotin and rifampicin in growth inhibition of multiresistant S. haemolyticus strains.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 904-912
Author(s):  
Edward L. Kaplan ◽  
Robert Couser ◽  
Barbara Ballard Huwe ◽  
Carolyn Mckay ◽  
Lewis W. Wannamaker

One hundred ninety-six individuals, 86 with clinically overt pharyngotonsillitis and 110 of their clinically negative contacts were studied to evaluate the sensitivity and the specificity of quantitative saliva cultures for group A β-hemolytic streptococci. We also compared this technique with semiquantitative throat cultures as a means of isolating group A streptococci and of differentiating the streptococcal carrier state from patients with bona fide streptococcal upper respiratory tract infection as defmed by the presence of an antibody response. The data indicate that the throat culture is a more reliable means of identifying group A β-hemolytic streptococci in the upper respiratory tract than is the saliva culture. The converse is true for non-group A β-hemolytic streptococci; the saliva culture is a much better means for isolating these organisms. In individuals positive by both techniques we found good correlation between the degree of positivity of the saliva culture and the degree of positivity of the throat culture. Furthermore, while there was a definite trend for individuals with strongly positive cultures to demonstrate more often an antibody rise in either antistreptolysin O and/or antideoxynibonuclease B—indicating bona fide infection—this relationship was not sufficiently constant to provide a clear differentiation. This study also indicates that discordance (one positive, one negative) of simultaneous duplicate semiquantitative throat cultures is much more common among individuals who do not show an antibody response ("carriers") than among those with an antibody response (bona fide infection). This study confirms our previous observations suggesting that the presence of C-reactive protein in the serum of patients with a positive culture for group A streptococci and clinical signs and symptoms of pharyngitis is often an indication of true streptococcal upper respiratory tract infection, and that even with a positive saliva culture at the initial visit, a negative C-reactive protein is only infrequently (25%) associated with an antibody response.


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