High-level resistance to aminoglycosides: comparison of community and nosocomial fecal isolates of enterococci

Clin Infect Dis. 1995 Apr;20(4):1048-51. doi: 10.1093/clinids/20.4.1048.

Abstract

Fecal carriage of enterococci highly resistant to streptomycin, gentamicin, and kanamycin was examined in 64 healthy volunteers with no exposure to hospitals and in 53 hospitalized individuals. High-level resistance to streptomycin and gentamicin was found in fecal specimens from 3% and 0, respectively, of the healthy volunteers and in fecal specimens from 41% and 15%, respectively, of the hospitalized individuals. We found that high-level resistance to kanamycin was also more common among hospitalized individuals than among healthy volunteers (36% vs. 17%). The frequent occurrence of high-level resistance to kanamycin in fecal isolates confirms that amikacin is a poor choice when attempting to achieve synergistic therapy for enterococcal infections, in particular for those infections that are nosocomially acquired.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • Drug Resistance, Microbial
  • Enterococcus / drug effects*
  • Feces / microbiology*
  • Gentamicins / pharmacology*
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Kanamycin Resistance*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Streptomycin / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Gentamicins
  • Streptomycin