JAC Advance Access originally published online on January 16, 2004
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Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2004) 53, 390-392
© 2004 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
In vitro antibacterial activity of the peptide PsVP-10 against antimicrobial-resistant Enterococcus faecalis isolated from clinical samples
1 Laboratorio de Investigación Microbiológica and 2 Instituto de Biología Vegetal y Biotecnología, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile
Received 25 July 2003; returned 26 August 2003; revised 30 September 2003; accepted 12 November 2003
Objective: To analyse the antimicrobial activity of the peptide PsVP-10 against 67 resistant Enterococcus faecalis strains isolated from clinical samples.
Methods: The qualitative disc diffusion method and MIC determinations were used.
Results: The presence of several multidrug-resistant phenotypes of E. faecalis was demonstrated, in which there were high MICs to chloramphenicol, tetracycline, vancomycin, cefaloridine, ampicillin and gentamicin. In comparison, the peptide PsVP-10 showed lower MICs against all the multidrug-resistant and susceptible E. faecalis.
Conclusions: There is an urgent need for the development of novel antimicrobial agents against the highly resistant E. faecalis. The present study shows that the peptide PsVP-10 might make a contribution to the solution of this serious problem.
Keywords: antibiotics, multiresistance and human infections
* Correspondence address. 2 Norte 685, Talca, Chile. E-mail: cpadilla{at}utalca.cl