Abstract

LOPARDO, Horacio Ángel  and  FOSSATI, Sofía. Living thirty years with the enemy: antimicrobial resistant pneumococci in Argentina. Acta bioquím. clín. latinoam. [online]. 2016, vol.50, n.4, pp.693-712. ISSN 0325-2957.

In 1981, the first penicillin-non-susceptible pneumococci (PNSP) were isolated at a pediatric hospital in La Plata, Argentina. They only spread to other centres after7 years. Then, PNSP increased from 17.0% in 1994 to 43.2% in 1996, remaining almost constant up todate. Changes were also observed in rates of penicillin-resistant pneumococci PRSP (MIC ≥2 μg/mL), with peaks at the end of 90’s and with almost their absence during recent years. It is supposed that the decreasing frequency of PRSP may obey to changes in prevalence of particular clones with less fitness cost due to having fewer alterations in their PBPs. Resistance to third generation cephalosporins ran in parallel with resistance to penicillin regarding the MICs. However, taking into account their different relative breakpoints, percentages of cefotaxime resistant pneumococci are negligible now in Argentina. Resistance to macrolides increased from zero to 20% between 1990 and 2010-2011. M phenotype (mefA/E, gene) is prevalent among these erythromycin resistant pneumococci. High rates of cotrimoxazole-resistantS. pneumoniae have been described in most series, while tetracycline-resistant remain moderate. A few isolates resistant to chloramphenicol and almost none resistant to rifampicin or fluoroquinolones were found among pneumococci in Argentina.

Keywords : Streptococcus pneumoniae; Resistance; Antibiotics.

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