Emerging Resistance of Anaerobic Bacteria to Antimicrobial Agents in South Korea

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Abstract
In previous studies, Bacteroides fragilis group organisms isolated from Korean patients were more frequently resistant to various antimicrobial agents, including clindamycin, than were isolates in other countries. A recent report of increased resistance of Peptostreptococcus species prompted us to include such isolates in a study of antimicrobial susceptibility. Anaerobes isolated in 1994 at a tertiary care hospital in Seoul were tested by an agar dilution method. None of the B. fragilis group organisms were resistant to imipenem, cefoxitin, chloramphenicol, or metronidazole. However, 6.7% were resistant to ampicillin/sulbactam, 20.2% to cefotetan, 30.3% to piperacillin, 48.3% to cefotaxime, and 42.7% to clindamycin. Almost all of the Clostridium perfringens isolates were susceptible to all of the agents tested, except tetracycline. Peptostreptococcus isolates were susceptible to piperacillin, cefotaxime, and imipenem, while 7.4% were resistant to penicillin G, cefotetan, and metronidazole, and 25.9% were resistant to clindamycin. The isolates resistant to penicillin G, cefotetan, and metronidazole were identified as Peptostreptococcus anaerobius. In conclusion, besides the well-known high rate of resistance of B. fragilis group organisms to clindamycin, the emergence of resistance of Peptostreptococcus species isolates to β-lactam drugs has become obvious in Korea.

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