The resistance to antibiotics of strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated in Poland.

The increasing number of antibiotic-resistant strains of micro-organisms is posing serious problems. A nation-wide survey has therefore been carried out in Poland to determine the resistance of strains of Staphylococcus aureus from different sources to eight antibiotics; in all, some 31 000 strains were examined.In general, the most resistant strains from humans were derived from faeces, urine and blood, and the least resistant from bile and pus. Food yielded strains of even lower resistance. Strains from hospital material were, in general, considerably more resistant than those from non-hospital material. The only exception was in resistance to neomycin; the strains most resistant to this antibiotic were obtained from bile and throat, and the least resistant from urine and cerebrospinal fluid; moreover, non-hospital strains were more resistant than hospital ones.ON THE AVERAGE, THE PROPORTIONS OF STRAINS RESISTANT TO THE EIGHT ANTIBIOTICS WERE: penicillin, 84.0%; streptomycin, 69.5%; tetracycline, 60.1%; chlortetracycline, 56.9%; oxytetracycline, 56.7%; neomycin, 56.2%; chloramphenicol, 48.6%; erythromycin, 47.4%.