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JAC Advance Access published online on January 24, 2008

Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkm525
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Increasing telithromycin resistance among Streptococcus pyogenes in Europe

Sandra S. Richter1,*, Kristopher P. Heilmann1, Cassie L. Dohrn1, Susan E. Beekmann1, Fathollah Riahi1, Juan Garcia-de-Lomas2, Matus Ferech3, Herman Goossens3 and Gary V. Doern1

1 Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242-1009, USA 2 Instituto Valenciano Microbio, Masia El Romeral, Betera, Valencia 46117, Spain 3 Laboratory of Microbiology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium

Received 17 August 2007; returned 1 December 2007; revised 22 October 2007; accepted 11 December 2007


* Corresponding author. Tel: +1-319-356-2990; Fax: +1-319-356-4916; E-mail: sandra-richter{at}uiowa.edu

Objectives: To assess changes in macrolide and ketolide resistance among Streptococcus pyogenes in Europe and to examine the relationship of resistance to antimicrobial usage.

Methods: Clinical S. pyogenes isolates were collected from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia during 2002–03 (n = 2165) and 2004–05 (n = 2333). Resistance to telithromycin (MIC ≥2) and erythromycin (MIC ≥0.5) was determined by CLSI broth microdilution. Changes in resistance over time and the relationship of resistance to antimicrobial use (European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption data) were assessed. Telithromycin-resistant isolates were characterized by PFGE to determine genetic relatedness and by PCR to detect mef(A), erm(A) and erm(B).

Results: The erythromycin resistance rate during 2004–05 (11.6%) was similar to 2002–03 (10.4%). The proportion of macrolide-resistant isolates with the constitutive MLSB phenotype increased from 29.3% (2002–03) to 45.7% (2004–05). Telithromycin resistance increased from 1.8% in 2002–03 to 5.2% in 2004–05. For Western Europe, associations of telithromycin and erythromycin resistance, respectively, were found with azithromycin use (R2 = 0.52 and 0.60), clarithromycin use (R2 = 0.76 and 0.85) and total macrolide/lincosamide use (R2 = 0.75 and 0.69). For Eastern Europe, associations of antimicrobial use with resistance were not apparent. The 162 telithromycin-resistant isolates comprised 42 PFGE patterns with 68.5% in eight major PFGE groups. The erm(B) gene was detected in 155 of the 162 telithromycin-resistant isolates.

Conclusions: Significant increases in telithromycin resistance occurred from 2002–03 to 2004–05 in Europe. Macrolide use appears to be a factor in the emergence of ketolide resistance among S. pyogenes in Western Europe.

Key Words: group A streptococci , ketolides , macrolides


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