A longitudinal assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility among important pathogens collected as part of the Tigecycline Evaluation and Surveillance Trial (T.E.S.T.) in France between 2004 and 2012

BACKGROUND: Clinically important Gram-positive and -negative isolates were collected from patients in France between 2004 and 2012 as a part of the Tigecycline Evaluation and Surveillance Trial. METHODS: MICs were determined using methodology described by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. RESULTS: In total, 17,135 isolates were contributed by 29 medical centres; respiratory (25.1%) and cardiovascular (20.3%) sources predominated. High susceptibility was observed among Enterococcus spp. and Staphylococcus aureus (including methicillin-resistant S. aureus [MRSA]) to linezolid (100%), tigecycline (≥99.8%) and vancomycin (≥94.6%). The percentage of MRSA decreased from 34.3% in 2004 to 20.0% in 2009 before increasing to 34.7% in 2012. Vancomycin, linezolid, levofloxacin and carbapenems were highly active (≥99.6%) against Streptococcus pneumoniae; 3.2% were PRSP. Escherichia coli showed peak susceptibility to the carbapenems (≥99.9%), tigecycline (99.3%) and amikacin (97.9%); significant (p < 0.01) decreases in susceptibility were observed for ampicillin, cefepime and ceftriaxone between 2004 and 2012. ESBL production among E. coli increased from 3.0% (2004) to 14.9% (2012). High susceptibility was noted among Haemophilus influenzae to levofloxacin (100%), amoxicillin-clavulanate (99.2%), carbapenems (≥98.7%) and ceftriaxone (98.5%); β-lactamase production fluctuated with no notable trend between 18.1% (2007) and 27.7% (2011). Klebsiella spp. were highly susceptible to carbapenems (≥99.6%) and amikacin (≥96.4%); significant (p < 0.01) decreases in amoxicillin-clavulanate, cefepime, ceftriaxone, levofloxacin, piperacillin-tazobactam and tigecycline susceptibility were observed among K. pneumoniae between 2004 and 2012. Only imipenem was highly active (96.5% susceptible) against Acinetobacter baumannii. Imipenem and amikacin (87.7% and 87.1% susceptible) were the most active agents against P. aeruginosa; 10.2% of isolates were categorized as multidrug resistant. CONCLUSIONS: Carbapenems, linezolid, tigecycline and vancomycin conserved good in vitro activity against most pathogens (according to their spectrum of activity) in France between 2004 and 2012. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2047-2994-3-36) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.