Emergence of penicillin resistant pneumococci in Sri Lanka.

Two strains of penicillin resistant (PR) pneumococci were isolated recently from cerebrospinal fluid of two children with meningitis. Penicillin resistance was detected by using a lug disc of oxacillin in the Stokes disc diffusion method. The strains were tested quantitatively for sensitivity to penicillin by an agar dilution technique. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) to penicillin of these strains were 2 micrograms/ml and 0.12 microgram/ml, indicating that respectively they were of frank and intermediate resistance to penicillin. However these strains were sensitive to other antibiotics tested, namely, erythromycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, amoxycillin, cephalexin and cefotaxime. Penicillin resistant pneumococci are here in Sri Lanka. Though one strain was of intermediate resistance, therapeutic failure during treatment with penicillin was evident in this case.