Antimicrobial susceptibility trends among Streptococcus pneumoniae over an 11-year period in an Iranian referral children Hospital

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The appearance of antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae has raised a global concern over the past three decades. This study was conducted to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of S. pneumoniae isolated from patients in Children´s Medical Center (CMC) Hospital during 2001 to 2011. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the 11 years period, a total of 194 S. pneumoniae isolates were collected in CMC Hospital. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and time-series analysis was used to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility changes over the time. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Antimicrobial susceptibility of S. pneumoniae to different antibiotics decreased from 2001 to 2011 as: penicillin from 78% to 32%, erythromycin from 75% to 35%, chloramphenicol from 94% to 55%, ampicillin from 70% to 62%, ceftriaxone from 100% to 87%, sulfametoxazole from 57% to 40%. We did not find any significant difference between the susceptibility of isolates from sterile and non-sterile sources. It would be an important key to consider antimicrobial stewardship as an essential factor to prevent the development of antimicrobial resistance.