Antibiotic sensitivity of theBacteroides fragilis group in Europe

Rates of resistance to 12 antibiotics were determined for 1,289 isolates of theBacteroides fragilis group submitted in 1988–1989 by 22 laboratories in 15 European countries. There was no resistance to metronidazole (breakpoint 8 mg/l) and only one isolate was resistant to chloramphenicol (breakpoint 8 mg/l). Resistance was uncommon for imipenem (0.3 % at > 4 mg/l), amoxicillin/clavulanate (1 % at > 8 mg/l), cefoxitin (3 % at > 32 mg/l), mezlocillin (6 % at > 64 mg/l) and clindamycin (9 % at > 4 mg/l). Resistance was the rule for ampicillin (93 % at > 4 mg/l), ciprofloxacin (56 % at > 4 mg/l) and tetracycline (64 % at > 4 mg/l).Bacteroides fragilis, the commonest species, was generally the most sensitive: resistance of this organism was uncommon for cefotetan (4 % at > 32 mg/l) and ceftazidime (12 % at > 32 mg/l) to which the other species were more often resistant. There were small but significant differences between laboratories and countries for many of the antibiotics. Regionally the most striking differences were for clindamycin where resistance inBacteroides fragilis was most common in the South and for tetracycline where resistance inBacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron andBacteroides uniformis was least common in the North.Prof. J.F. Acar, Paris, France; Dr. F. Baquero, Madrid, Spain; Dr. A. Bremmelgaard, Frederiksberg, Denmark; Prof. J.A. Garcia-Rodriguez, Salamanca, Spain; Prof. U. Höffler, Düsseldorf, Germany; Prof. T. Hofstad, Bergen, Norway; Dr. H. Jousimies-Somer, Helsinki, Finland; Prof. N.J. Legakis, Athens, Greece; Prof. D.M. MacLaren, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Dr. P. Maes, Oostende, Belgium; Dr. G.J. Meijer-Severs, Groningen, Netherlands; Dr. H. Mittermayer, Linz, Austria; Prof. C.-E. Nord, Stockholm, Sweden; Prof. G. Panichi, Rome, Italy; Prof. I. Phillips, London, UK; Prof. G. Privitera, Milan, Italy; Dr. A. Sedallian, Annecy, France; Prof. S. Tabaqchali, London, UK; Prof. A. Torres Pereira, Lisbon, Portugal; Prof. U. Ullmann, Kiel, Germany; Prof. J. Wüst, Zurich, Switzerland; Prof. E. Yourassowsky, Brussels, Belgium.