Patterns of Antibiotic Resistance Among Group BStreptococcusIsolates: 2001–2004

摘要

The objectives were to determine the prevalence of group Bstreptococcus (GBS) and to characterize antibiotic resistancepatterns. All pregnant women presenting to the triage units attwo urban hospitals during three intervals from 2001 to 2004 wereincluded. Each interval lasted approximately four weeks. Swabswere inoculated into selective broth and cultured on tryptic soyagar with 5% sheep blood. GBS was identified using the StrepTexlatex agglutination system. GBS positive cultures were testedfor their resistance to ampicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin,and cefazolin. GBS was isolated from 154 (12.2%) of 1264 swabscollected during the study period. African-American women weremore likely to be colonized with GBS than Caucasians andHispanics. Resistance to routinely administered antibiotics wascommon, but there were no statistically significant increases inresistance to antibiotics over the study period. Ongoingsurveillance of antibiotic resistance patterns is important indetermining optimal prophylaxis and therapy.