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Volume 8, Number 12—December 2002
Synopsis

Antimicrobial Resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae, Taiwan

Po-Ren Hsueh*Comments to Author  and Kwen-Tay Luh*
Author affiliations: *National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan;

Main Article

Table

Summary of dilution susceptibilities for Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates, Taiwan, 1996–1999

% of nonsusceptible isolates (intermediate/resistant)
Antimicrobial agent 1996–1997a 1996–1997b 1998–1999c 1998–1999d 2000e
(n=200) (n=550) (n=267) (n=288) (n=24)
Penicillin 61 (28/33) 56 (43/13) 76 (51/25) 56 (34/22) 58 (50/8)
Amoxicillin (-clavulanate) 50 (34/16) 33 (32/1) 22 (12/10) —
Cefuroxime — — 67 (16/51) 43 (6/37) —
Ceftriaxone (cefotaxime) 39 (16/23) 13 (11/2) 56 (54/2) 25 (15/10) 33 (29/4)
Cefepime 43 (19/24) — — — 42 (21/21)
Imipenem — 15 (13/2) — 14 (14/0) 21 (21/0)
Meropenem — — — — 4 (4/0)
Erythromycin 83 (6/77) 74 (5/69) — 76 (4/74) —
Azithromycin — 78 (4/74) 94 (4/90) 78 (6/72) —
Clarithromycin 90 (9/81) — 95 (6/89) — —
Trimethoprim-
sulfamethoxazole 87 (6/81) — 65 (33/32) 71 (30/41) —
Ciprofloxacinf 2 — 4 — 0
Levofloxacin — 1 (0/1) — 0
Moxifloxacin 0 — 1 (0/1) — 0
Rifampin 0 7 (7/0) — — —
Vancomycin 0 0 — 0 0
Quinupristin-dalfopristin — — 8 (6/2) — 42 (38/4)
Linezolid — — 0 — 0

aData adopted from reference 6. All isolates were recovered from various clinical specimens (60% of isolates from respiratory secretions and 27% from blood samples) of patients treated at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH).
b Data adopted from references 7. All isolates were recovered from various clinical specimens (36.7% from sputa and 42.3% from sterile sites) of patients treated at 14 major hospitals in Taiwan.
cData adopted from references 8. All isolates were recovered from various clinical specimens, including 86.4% from respiratory secretions and 8.8% from sterile sites (cerebrospinal fluid, blood, ascites and pleural fluid) of patients treated at five teaching hospitals in Taiwan.
dData adopted from reference 9. All isolates were recovered from normally sterile sites (cerebrospinal fluid, blood, ascites and pleural fluid) of patients treated at all major hospitals in Taiwan.
eData adopted from reference 10. All isolates were recovered from various clinical specimens (12 isolates were recovered from non-respiratory secretions) of patients treated at five teaching hospitals in Taiwan.
fCiprofloxacin MIC >4 μg/mL.

Main Article

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