High resistance to ciprofloxacin in California

The level of resistance to ciprofloxacin is quite high in microorganisms isolated from outpatients of one of the largest rehabilitation centers in California (USA) - the National Rehabilitation Center Rancho Los Amigos.

Between 1997 and 2001, resistance to ciprofloxacin in Escherichia coli strains isolated from patients with traumatic spinal cord injury increased from 13% to 33%. The results of the study were presented at the 102nd annual conference of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

Although resistance to ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones has already been reported in Europe, China and several regions of South Africa since 1990, this phenomenon was unusual in the United States until the mid-1990s.

In 1997, an increase in the resistance of E. coli to ciprofloxacin was recorded from less than 1% in 1989 to 6% in 1996 (approximately 8,000 strains of E. coli ).

In the present study, more than 4,100 strains of microorganisms isolated from around 2,000 patients were tested.

Most E.coli strains have been isolated from patients with urinary tract infections.

Researchers do not know whether this significant increase in resistance is due to excessive use of antibiotics in hospitals or in the general population. It should be noted that the rehabilitation center is located on the border with Mexico, where it is quite easy to buy ciprofloxacin without a prescription.

An increase in resistance to ciprofloxacin cannot be attributed to a sufficiently broad prophylactic prescription of this antimicrobial drug after recent events in the use of bacteriological weapons (anthrax spores), as the increase in resistance continues for several years. Researchers are convinced that the increased use of ofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones, which was caused by the use of bacteriological weapons, makes the growth of resistance even more "scary".