Antibiotic susceptibility of streptococci and related genera causing endocarditis: analysis of UK reference laboratory referrals, January 1996 to March 2000

A combination of penicillin and gentamicin is recommended for streptococcal endocarditis by both the Endocarditis Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the American Heart Association, with vancomycin replacing penicillin for those who are allergic to penicillin. 1 2 The Public Health Laboratory Service's Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory and Streptococcus and Diphtheria Reference Unit routinely test bacteria referred from cases of endocarditis from a wide range of hospitals, representing about 15% of all UK isolates from endocarditis. We retrospectively analysed the species distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility of streptococci and related bacteria from patients with endocarditis received over 4.25 years; enterococci have been reviewed previously.3 Isolates from confirmed cases of endocarditis referred between January 1996 and March 2000 were identified from the reference laboratory's database, which provides antibiotic susceptibility as minimum inhibitory concentrations of each antibiotic for each isolate. Isolates were categorised as susceptible or resistant …