Objectives - We report the results of a regional survey on the resistance of S. pneumoniae strains to antibiotics.Method - From April 1997 to April 1998, 20 microbiology laboratories in Limousin collected 343 S. pneumoniae strains, isolated from various clinical samples (blood cultures, pulmonary samples, cerebrospinal fluid, otitis). Susceptibility to penicillin was tested (oxacillin disks and MIC).Results - The global prevalence of penicillin resistant S. pneumoniae was 39.9%. This prevalence was higher in children (49%) than in adults (33%). The percentage of penicillin resistant strains was higher in non-invasive isolates (36.4%) than in invasive isolates (24%). We notice the predominance of low-level resistant strains (0.06 < MIC < 1 mg/L). No strain with a high-level resistance to amoxicillin or cefotaxime was isolated. High resistance to other antibiotics was often combined with resistance to penicillin (70% to erythromycin and trimethoprim-sulfametoxazole, 50% to cyclines). Among penicillin resistant S. pneumoniae, the most prevalent serogroups or serotypes were 23, 14, 9, 19, 6, and 15. (C) 1999 Elsevier Paris.

A national multicenter study was carried out during the first semester of 1991 to confirm the in vitro activity of fosfomycin trometamol (FT) against a range of bacterial strains associated with UTI in out-patients. MICs of FT were determined by nutrient broth dilution method for an adjusted sample of 273 most representative urinary isolates. Concentration values of 8 and 64 mg/l required to inhibit respectively 50 and 90 % of strains were widely lower than mean urinary levels achieved within the 0-48 h interval after a single oral dose of 3 g FT. Species with MICs higher than 256 mg/l (St. saprophyticus, M. morganii, Providencia spp. and some P. aeruginosa) represent less than 5 % of strains isolated from UTI in out-patients. The spectrum of activity of fosfomycin trometamol actually embraces most of the common urinary pathogens isolated from UTI in out-patients.