Resistance to the antibiotic levofloxacin is still rare among bacteria that cause respiratory illness.

There's increasing concern about resistance to antibiotics. To this end, researchers have been carrying out a surveillance study called TRUST (Tracking Resistance in the US Today) since 1996. The study covers resistance shown by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae , a leading cause of respiratory illness. The latest TRUST results are now presented.

Resistance to penicillin is up, to18.4 per cent this season in the strains isolated compared to 16.9 per cent in the previous year. For the record, the study covered 7,671 isolates of the bacterium. There was also a high level of resistance for the antibiotic azithromycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, both of which are in widespread use. Around a quarter of all isolates showed resistance.

But resistance to the relatively new antibiotic levofloxacin, one of the fluoroquinolone class, remained at less than one per cent. This is cause for relief, for we still have at least one potent weapon against infection. But complacency must not set in - for if doctors and patients over-use levofloxacin it is sure to succumb to bacterial resistance as so many other antibiotics have.

Source

Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 29th September 2002