Emerging resistance to newer antimicrobial agents amongShigellaisolated from Finnish foreign travellers

Abstract

SUMMARYIn Finland, most cases of shigellosis are related to travel abroad. Antimicrobial drug resistance of 1814Shigellastrains isolated from Finnish patients during 1990–2005 was studied using discs of 12 antimicrobial agents. Since 2000, the E-test has been performed to determine ciprofloxacin minimum inhibitory concentrations of nalidixic acid-resistant isolates. The proportion of multi-resistant strains (resistant to ⩾4 antimicrobials) was highest among isolates from China and India, but is increasing significantly in other parts of Asia. Resistance to nalidixic acid has become common among the strains from the Far East, and the first isolates also resistant to ciprofloxacin were detected during 2004–2005. All the ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates belonged to theS. flexneri2a serotype. All the nalidixic acid-resistantS. flexneristrains had reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, whereas 23% of the nalidixic acid-resistantS. sonneistrains were still completely susceptible to ciprofloxacin.