Stabilization of penicillin resistance among Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated in Eastern Tennessee.

Penicillin resistance among Eastern Tennessee isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae has been increasing since the early 1990s. To maintain active surveillance of the prevalence of penicillin resistance among pneumococci isolated at our institution, antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed for 95 consecutive isolates and results were compared with those of strains examined 2 years earlier. The prevalence of penicillin resistance among local pneumococcal isolates may have stabilized in recent years.