Actinomyces pyogenes: susceptibility of 103 clinical animal isolates to 22 antimicrobial agents.

Actinomyces pyogenes induces suppurative diseases in ruminants and many other animal species. Most of the earlier antimicrobial susceptibility data has been obtained by disk diffusion techniques. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 22 antibiotics for 103 strains of A pyogenes of animal origin were determined by agar dilution test (Mueller-Hinton agar supplemented with 5% sheep blood). All the strains were susceptible to penicillin G, amoxicillin, methicillin, cephalothin, cefoperazone, pristinamycin, kanamycin, gentamicin, spectinomycin, chloramphenicol, vancomycin, novobiocin and rifampin. Fifty-nine percent were resistant to streptomycin, 67% to tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline, 12% to erythromycin, spiramycin and lincomycin. Most of the strains resistant to macrolides and lincosamides exhibited a constitutive MLS(B)-like phenotype. In the cultural conditions used, it was not possible to determine accurate MIC of fucidic acid and pefloxacin.