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JAC Advance Access published online on December 8, 2004

Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkh521
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JAC © The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2004; all rights reserved
Received August 5, 2004
Revised October 23, 2004
Accepted November 1, 2004

Brief report

In vitro activities of cefotaxime, vancomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, linezolid and other antibiotics alone and in combination against Propionibacterium acnes isolates from central nervous system infections

Francine Mory 1, Sébastien Fougnot 1, Christian Rabaud 2, Hélène Schuhmacher 2, and Alain Lozniewski 1*

1 Laboratoire de Bactériologie-Virologie, UMR-CNRS 7565, Faculté de Médecine, 54500 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France
2 Service des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, Hôpital de Brabois, 54500 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Alain Lozniewski, E-mail: a.lozniewski{at}chu-nancy.fr


   Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the antibiotic susceptibilities of Propionibacterium acnes isolates from central nervous system (CNS) infections to agents used in current treatment regimens.

Methods: MICs of 16 reference antibiotics were determined by an agar dilution method for 24 consecutive strains of P. acnes isolated from individual patients with intracranial empyema or brain abscess. Bactericidal activities of antibiotics against P. acnes PAN14 were studied at 0.25-2 x MIC using a time-kill method.

Results: All of the isolates were resistant to fosfomycin, intermediate or resistant to metronidazole and susceptible to all the other antibiotics tested, except for nine strains, which were intermediate to ofloxacin. Among antibiotics tested alone in time-kill experiments, vancomycin was the most effective drug and exhibited bactericidal activity after 24 h at 1x and 2 x MIC, whereas cefotaxime and ciprofloxacin were bactericidal after 48 h at 2 x MIC. No significant bactericidal activity could be demonstrated with the other antibiotics tested alone. The addition of cefotaxime to vancomycin resulted in bactericidal activity at lower concentrations (0.5 x MIC), whereas synergy was observed between quinupristin/dalfopristin and cefotaxime at 2 x MIC. In contrast, antagonism was observed between cefotaxime and linezolid, and ciprofloxacin and clindamycin.

Conclusion: Our data suggest that P. acnes isolates causing CNS infections remain highly susceptible to most antibiotics used for the treatment of such infections. Moreover, we showed that cefotaxime, vancomycin and ciprofloxacin possess good bactericidal activities against P. acnes, and that these activities may be enhanced when vancomycin is combined with cefotaxime or when cefotaxime is combined with quinupristin/dalfopristin.

Keywords: P. acnes; susceptibility; time-kill assay.
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