Feb 14, 2006 - The new ketolide, telithromycin, is a po- tential alternative to the currently used macrolides. However, isolates resistant to telithromycin have ...
Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates in Portugal over an 11-Year Period Ricardo Dias, Deolinda Louro, the Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program in Portugal, and Manuela Canic¸a* Antibiotic Resistance Unit, Centre of Bacteriology, National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal Received 14 February 2006/Returned for modification 20 March 2006/Accepted 31 March 2006
This national surveillance study presents the in vitro activities of the main antimicrobial agents against 1,331 S. pneumoniae isolates as tested by an agar dilution method according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (formerly NCCLS). The strains were isolated in several regions of Portugal from cases of invasive disease over an 11-year period (1994 to 2004). This study shows that the percentage of penicillin-nonsusceptible strains increased from 12% in 1994 to 28.5% in 2000. Then the rate declined to 17.7% in 2003 but increased again to 23.2% in 2004. Nevertheless, the rate of highly resistant isolates declined consistently, to 0.9% in 2001 to 2004. Ceftriaxone- and cefotaxime-nonsusceptible isolates became less frequent, from 4% and 8%, respectively, in 1994 to
