Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2005 Jun;11(6):802-7.
doi: 10.3201/eid1106.050147.

Hidden epidemic of macrolide-resistant pneumococci

Keith P Klugman  1 , John R Lonks
Affiliations
Review

Hidden epidemic of macrolide-resistant pneumococci

Keith P Klugman et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005 Jun.

Abstract

Community-acquired respiratory tract infections (RTIs) account for a substantial proportion of outpatient antimicrobial drug prescriptions worldwide. Concern over the emergence of multidrug resistance in pneumococci has largely been focused on penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. Macrolide antimicrobial drugs have been widely used to empirically treat community-acquired RTIs because of their efficacy in treating both common and atypical respiratory pathogens, including S. pneumoniae. However, increased macrolide use has been associated with a global increase in pneumococcal resistance, which is leading to concern over the continued clinical efficacy of the macrolides to treat community-acquired RTIs. We provide an overview of macrolide-resistant S. pneumoniae and assess the impact of this resistance on the empiric treatment of community-acquired RTIs.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. World Health Organization. The World health report 2004 — changing history [monograph on the Internet]. 2004. [cited 2005 Apr 1]. Available from http://www.who.int/whr/2004/en/report04_en.pdf
    1. Hall MJ, DeFrances CJ. National hospital discharge survey. Adv Data. 2002;332:1–18. - PubMed
    1. Jacobs MR. Streptococcus pneumoniae: epidemiology and patterns of resistance. Am J Med. 2004;117(Suppl 3A):38–15S. - PubMed
    1. Klugman KP. Bacteriological evidence of antibiotic failure in pneumococcal lower respiratory tract infections. Eur Respir J. 2002;36(Suppl):36:3–8s. - PubMed
    1. Metlay JP, Hofmann J, Cetron MS, Fine MJ, Farley MM, Whitney C, et al. Impact of penicillin susceptibility on medical outcomes for adult patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;30:520–8. 10.1086/313716 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources