[Gentamicin skin ointment: 200 kilos too much].

In a 75 year old woman, with diabetic mellitus type II, bacteriological examination of a foot infection revealed a Staphylococcus aureus resistant to aminoglycosides. From a different ulcer on the same foot a genotypically identical but non-resistant bacterial strain was cultured. The patient had been treated with gentamicin ointment. According to the literature and to the Central Pharmaceutical Committee in the Netherlands there is no indication for topical use of gentamicin or other aminoglycosides. Moreover, such use may lead to antibiotic resistant bacteria. In spite of this, in the period from March 1992 to March 1993, 200 kg of the ointment was distributed in the Netherlands.