Howe R A, Wootton M, Bennett P M, MacGowan A P, Walsh T R
Bristol Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Evaluation, Department of Medical Microbiology, Southmead Health Services NHS Trust, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol BS10 5NB, United Kingdom.
J Clin Microbiol. 1999 Sep;37(9):3068-71. doi: 10.1128/JCM.37.9.3068-3071.1999.
Vancomycin-sensitive, -intermediate, and -heterointermediate methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates were tested by using E-tests to explore the interaction of methicillin and vancomycin. For the vancomycin-intermediate and -heterointermediate strains both drugs showed antagonism at concentrations below their MICs but synergy at methicillin concentrations near the MIC. This property could be used to screen for heterointermediate S. aureus strains.