Prevalence and resistance patterns of oropharyngeal flora in acne patients treated with long term antibiotics

This is a cross sectional study aimed at the estimation of the prevalence and resistance patterns of Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus in the oropharynx of antibiotic user and non-user individuals with acne. The main outcome measure was the presence or absence of S pyogenes and S aureus in the oropharynx as determined by culture and their resistance patterns to tetracyclines as determined by agar disk diffusion. Of 105 participants, 42 were using oral or topical antibiotics and 63 were not using antibiotics. Six [10%] of non-users had positive S pyogenes cultures compared with 13 [33%] of those successfully evaluated using antibiotics [n=39]. A total of 85% of S pyogenes cultures [11/13] from antibiotic users were resistant to at least tetracycline antibiotic compared with 20% from those non-antibiotic users [p=0.1]. Of non-antibiotic users 29% had positive S awe us cultures compared with 22% of antibiotic users. No significant differences in resistance patterns of S aureus were found. It was clear that S pyogenes colonization and resistance in the oropharynx are associated with antibiotic therapy in patients with acne. The clinical and long-term effects of this finding need further studies