Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the surveillance committee of Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for clinical microbiology in 2014: General view of the pathogens' antibacterial susceptibility.

The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens from the patients in Japan was conducted by Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2014. The isolates were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections during the period between January 2014 and April 2015 by three societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute. Susceptibility testing was evaluated in 1534 strains (335 Staphylococcus aureus, 264 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 29 Streptococcus pyogenes, 281 Haemophilus influenzae, 164 Moraxella catarrhalis, 207 Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 254 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was 43.6%, and those of penicillin-susceptible S. pneumoniae was 100%. Among H. influenzae, 8.2% of them were found to be ß-lactamase-producing ampicillin-resistant strains, and 49.1% to be ß-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin-resistant strains. Extended spectrum ß-lactamase-producing K. pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa with metallo ß-lactamase were 9.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

[Comparative in vitro activities of several antimicrobial agents against Helicobacter pylori].

Comparative in vitro activities of several antimicrobial agents against Helicobacter pylori were evaluated. Minimum inhibitory concentrations against 41 strains of H. pylori were determined by using E test. All 41 strains were isolated from gastric mucosa of patients suspected to have gastric ulcer. The ranges of MIC of amoxicillin was from 0.016 microgram/ml and less to 0.064 microgram/ml. The ranges of MIC of clarithromycin, erythromycin, and azithromycin were from 0.016 microgram/ml and less to 64 micrograms/ml, from 0.016 microgram/ml and less to more than 256 micrograms/ml, from 0.064 to more than 256 micrograms/ml, respectively. The ranges of MIC of ciprofloxacin, sparfloxacin, levofloxacin, norfloxacin were from 0.016 microgram/ml and less to 32 micrograms/ml, from 0.002 microgram/ml and less to more than 32 micrograms/ml, from 0.002 microgram/ml and less to more than 32 micrograms/ml, from 0.064 to more than 32 micrograms/ml, respectively.