J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 56(8): 993-1007, 1955

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STUDIES ON SUSCEPTIBILITY OF PATHOGENIC STAPHYLOCOCCI TO ANTIBIOTICS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PENICILLIN-RESISTANT STRAINS

The susceptibility to 8 antibiotics, PC, SM, CM, TM, AM, EM, CBM and LM of the staphylococci which were isolated during 2 years from February 1953 to December 1954 from surgical infections and oto-rhinological diseases and the pathogenic staphylococci which were obtained from aerial dusts in a hospital and nasal vestibules of hospital employees was investigated and the bacteriological characteristics of PC-resistant strains were comparatively studied. The results obtained are as follows.
1) Out of the 132 strains of staphylococcus isolated from surgical infections, 60 strains (45.4%) were PC-resistant and not inhibited by 1.0 μ/ml of PC and thus the increase of PC-resistant strains compared with the data in 1950 was confirmed and the tendency to the increase of highly resistant strains was noticed. Also among the staphylococci isolated from oto-rhinological diseases, 10 (50%) out of 20 strains were found to be PC-resistant.
2) Most of the PC-resistant strains were found in the cases to which more than 610,000 units had been administered and it is assumed that the given PC-treatment would greatly influence the emergence of PC-resistant strains.
3) PC-resistant strains were found more frequently in suppurative operation wounds and among these wounds they were found in open Iesions more frequently than in cIosed lesions.
4) About 70 % of the infections of hospital employees and inpatients were found to be due to PC-resistant strains and this figure was greater than 37% of the outpatients. However, also the outpatients were found to be influenced by PC-resistant strains.
5) Twenty-eight strains (75.7%) out of the 37 pathogenic staphylococcus strains isolated from the aerial dusts in a hospital and nasal vestibules of hospital employees were PC-resistant and the significance of cross infection with PC-resistant staphylococci in hospitals was confirmed.
6) Among the 155 strains of staphylococcus, SM-resistant strains occupied 23.2%, strains resistant to TM and AM 3.8% and CBM-resistant strains 1.9% but no strains were found to be resistant to any drug of CM, EM and LM.
7) No significant difference was found between the PC-resistant and-susceptible strains in the production of pigments, coagulase and hyaluronidase, gelatine liquefication, sugar fermentation, pathogenicity to rabbit skin etc. except the production of penicillinase. It is assumed that the clinically significant PC-resistant strains retain their full pathogenicity.
8) In view of drug susceptibility, PC should not be abused to staphylococcal infections and the administration of the drugs of tetracycline system such as TM, AM etc. or CM, EM, LM etc. is recommended. However, about 35% of the staphylococcal infections were found to carry the strains most susceptible to PC and so PC should be selectively administered to these cases.
Abbreviations :
PC= penicillin, SM = dihydrostreptomycin, CM = chloramphenicol, TM = terramycin, AM= aureomycin, EM= erythromycin, CBM = carbomycin, LM = leucomycin
(author's abstract)

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