TY - JOUR AU - Hsueh, Po-Ren AU - Luh, Kwen-Tay T1 - Antimicrobial Resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae, Taiwan T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 12 SP - 1487 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Taiwan has one of the highest levels of antibiotic-resistant pneumococcus in the world. Pneumococcal isolates not susceptible to penicillin first appeared in Taiwan in 1986; in 1995 an increase in the prevalence of nonsusceptibility to penicillins, extended-spectrum cephalosporins, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and macrolides as well as multidrug resistance began to be recognized. With the persistence of antibiotic selective pressure, resistance in some antibiotics reached a high plateau (β-lactam antibiotics) or continued to increase (macrolides), while novel resistance (fluoroquinolones) emerged in the last 3 years. Widespread distribution of some novel resistant 23F and 19F clones (and the international epidemic of 23F clones) contributes further to the rapid increase of resistance. Because Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major pathogen that causes community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections and meningitis in adults and children, antibiotic-resistance in this organism is a serious problem. KW - antimicrobial resistance KW - Streptococcus pneumoniae KW - Taiwan DO - 10.3201/eid0812.020178 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/12/02-0178_article ER - End of Reference