Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T05:02:48.934Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Antibiotic sensitivities of Neisseria meningitidis isolates from patients and carriers in Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

G. Tzanakaki ,
C. C. Blackwell ,
J. Kremastinou ,
C. Kallergi ,
G. Kouppari  and
D. M. Weir
G. Tzanakaki
Affiliation:
National Meningitis Reference Laboratory, Hellenic Institute Pasteur, Athens, Greece
C. C. Blackwell*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, The Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG
J. Kremastinou
Affiliation:
Athens School of Public Health, Athens, Greece
C. Kallergi
Affiliation:
Aglaia Kyriakou Paediatric Hospital, Athens, Greece
G. Kouppari
Affiliation:
Aglaia Kyriakou Paediatric Hospital, Athens, Greece
D. M. Weir
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, The Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG
*
*Author for correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Usage of antibiotics in southern Europe is less well regulated than in northern countries. The proportion (48%) of meningococci in Spain insensitive to penicillin (MIC ≥ 0·1 mg/l) prompted this investigation of antibiotic sensitivities of isolates from Greek patients with meningitis (31) and carriers (47 school-children and 472 recruits). The agar dilution method was used to determine MIC to penicillin G (PN), sulphamethoxazole (SU), rifampicin (RF), cefaclor (CF) and ciprofloxacin (CP).

The proportion of isolates insensitive to PN was 48% for isolates from patients, 19% from school-children and 36·6% from recruits. Resistance to SU (MIC ≥ 16 mg/l) was found in 16% of those from patients, 10·6% from children and 40% from recruits. None of the isolates from patients was resistant to RF (≥ 1 mg/l) but 6% of those from carriers were. Resistance to CF (≥ 4 mg/l) was found in 9·2% of patient isolates, 6·4% from children and 23·7% from recruits. All isolates except one were sensitive to CP (MIC range < 0·0015–0·125 mg/l).

Resistances to PN, SU and RF were analysed by serogroup, serotype and subtype of the bacteria. The proportion of resistant isolates showed some variation between different areas of Greece, but it was not statistically significant.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 108 , Issue 3 , June 1992 , pp. 449 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

References

REFERENCES

1.Saez-Nieto, JA, Fontanals, D, Garcia de, Jalon J et al. , Isolation of Neisseria meningitidis strains with increase of penicillin minimal inhibitory concentration. Epidemiol Infect 1987; 99: 463–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Saez-Nieto, JA, Vazquez, JA, Macros, C. Meningococci moderately resistant to penicillin. Lancet 1990; ii: 54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Botha, P. Penicillin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis in southern Africa. Lancet 1988; i: 54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Sutcliffe, EM, Jones, DM, El-Sheikh, S et al. , Penicillin-insensitive meningococci in the UK. Lancet 1988; i: 657–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Jones, DM, Sutcliffe, EM. Meningococci with reduced susceptibility to penicillin. Lancet 1990; i: 863–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Blackwell, CC, Tzanakaki, G, Kremastinou, J et al. , Factors affecting carriage of Neisseria meningitidis among Greek military recruits. Epidemiol Infect 1992; 108: 441–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.AAC working party. Phillips, I, Andrews, J, Bint, AJ et al. , Breakpoints in in vitro antibiotic sensitivity testing. J Antimicrob Chemother 1988; 21: 701–10.Google Scholar
8.Young, HY. Identification and penicillinase testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from primary isolation cultures on MNYC medium. J Clin Microbiol 1978; 7: 247–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Abdillahi, H, Poolman, JT. Whole-cell ELISA for typing Neisseria meningitidis with monoclonal antibodies. J Med Microbiol 1987; 48: 367–71.Google Scholar
10.Cartwright, Kav, Stuart, JM, Jones, DM, Noah, ND. The Stonehouse survey: nasopharyngeal carriage of meningococci and Neisseria lactamica. Epidemiol Infect 1987; 99: 591–601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Poolman, JT, Jonsdóttir, K, Jones, DM, Lind, I, Frøholm, O, Zanen, HC. Meningococcal serotypes and serogroup B disease in Northwest Europe. Lancet 1986; ii: 555–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Tzanakaki, G, Mavromati, L, Tzelepi, E et al. , Serological classification in relation to auxotypes, plasmid contents, and susceptibility to antimicrobials of PPNG and non-PPNG strains isolated in Greece. Genitour Med 1989; 65: 171–6.Google ScholarPubMed
13.Gaunt, PM, Lambert, BE. Single dose ciprofloxacin for eradication of pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis. J Antimicrob Chemother 1988; 21: 489–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Knapp, JS, Johnson, SR, Zenilman, JH et al. , High-level tetracycline resistance resulting from TetM in strains of Neisseria spp., Kingella denitrificans and Eikenella corrodens. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1988; 32: 765–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed