Survey of antimicrobial resistance to oral antibiotics in Italy.

The susceptibility of approximately 4,200 fresh clinical isolates to eleven different orally available compounds was assessed in ten Italian microbiology institutions during summer 1991. A standardized microdilution system including all the material necessary was employed to assess the antibacterial activity of ampicillin, ampicillin plus sulbactam, amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid, cefadroxil, cephalexin, cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefetamet, doxycycline, erythromycin, and clindamycin. The amino-penicillins (including the beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations) were highly active against the streptococci, whereas cefetamet was the most active compound against Enterobacteriaceae, exhibiting good activity against the streptococci as well. The analysis of distribution of susceptibility revealed that there is a good discrimination between susceptible and resistant strains for cefetamet in any case, whereas the discrimination is low for the aminopenicillin/inhibitor combinations and the older cephalosporins in at least some of the gram-negative species.