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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2005, p. 1193-1197, Vol. 43, No. 3
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.43.5.1193-1197.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Departamento de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca,1 Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Salud Pública y Microbiología Médica. Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain2
Received 7 July 2004/ Returned for modification 30 August 2004/ Accepted 20 November 2004
We developed a case-control study in order to identify risk factors associated with pharyngeal colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae with reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin MIC,
4 µg/ml). A total of 400 patients were studied for colonization by quinolone-nonsusceptible S. pneumoniae (QNSP) isolates and risk factors for this colonization. Isolate susceptibility was determined by the agar dilution method. Forty patients were colonized by QNSP (case patients), and 360 patients were not colonized by QNSP (control patients). The MIC range of ciprofloxacin for QNSP isolates was 4 to 8 µg/ml. No isolates were resistant to levofloxacin and moxifloxacin. Risk factors significantly associated with QNSP colonization, according to univariate analysis, were recent hospitalizations (odds ratio [OR], 3.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.6 to 7.2; P < 0.01) and prior exposure to fluoroquinolones (OR, 6.04; 95% CI, 3.0 to 12.0; P < 0.01). Other factors such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 1.94; 95% CI; 0.7 to 5.0), prior exposure to penicillins (OR, 1,68; 95% CI, 0.8 to 3.3) and prior exposure to macrolides (OR 2; 95% CI, 0.6 to 6.2) were more frequent among patients colonized with QNSP, but there was no statistical significance. Multivariate analysis showed that exposure to fluoroquinolones was the only independent factor associated with colonization by QNSP (OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 1.8 to 9.4; P < 0.01). Throat colonization by QNSP is becoming frequent, though most of these isolates (all the isolates in this case) remain susceptible to newer fluoroquinolones. Previous treatment with fluoroquinolones seems to be the main risk factor associated with colonization by QNSP.
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