In vitro activity of linezolid and other antibiotics against Gram-positive bacteria from the major teaching hospitals in Kuwait

Multidrug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria are an increasingly pressing problem in the clinic. Consequently, linezolid, a recently introduced oxazolidinone with Gram-positive activity, was tested in comparison with 10 other antibiotics against 8103 clinically significant Gram-positive cocci by Etest, disk diffusion and Vitek methods. Linezolid demonstrated excellent activities against all isolates. Vancomycin and teicoplanin demonstrated equally excellent activity against almost all isolates. The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains were all susceptible to the glycopeptides and linezolid, but resistant to erythromycin (96%), fusidic acid (91.5%), gentamicin (84%) and clindamycin (73%). Forty one and 39% of the Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were resistant to penicillin (MIC > 0.5 mu g/ml) and erythromycin (MIC > 1 mu g/ml), respectively. S. agalactiae susceptibility was 9% and 10% resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin, respectively. In conclusion, all the Gram-positive isolates tested were susceptible to linezolid. With its oral bioavailability profiles, it obviously holds great promise. Our data should be a useful addition to the literature from the Middle East.