Antibiotic resistance and serotypes of 100 Streptococcus pneumoniae strains isolated in a children's hospital in Barcelona, Spain.

A total of 100 Streptococcus pneumoniae strains with various penicillin G susceptibilities, isolated in Barcelona, Spain, from different pediatric sources during 1983 and the first 4 months of 1984, were tested for susceptibility to tetracycline, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, clindamycin, vancomycin, and rifampin. The isolates were distributed in nine patterns of antibiotic resistance, and 15 different serotypes were encountered. The high incidence of resistance to multiple antibiotics clearly indicates the need to perform antibiotic susceptibility testing of all pneumococcal isolates with proved pathologic significance to avoid therapeutic failure.