Antimicrobial agent susceptibility patterns of staphylococci isolated in urban and rural areas of Bolivia.

Staphylococcal strains obtained from cutaneous swabs of hospital staff and school students of Camiri and Boyuibe and healthy people living in Javillo, Bolivia, were tested for their in-vitro antimicrobial susceptibility. The highest percentages of resistance to the antibiotics tested were found in staphylococcal strains isolated from hospital personnel. All the S. aureus strains from these subjects were resistant to penicillin. Coagulase-negative staphylococci from hospital personnel evidenced a high rate of multiresistant strains, mainly to penicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol. The staphylococcal strains isolated in the rural population of Javillo were highly susceptible to all the antibiotics tested.