ABSTRACT
The susceptibility to ciprofloxacin of 7288 Escherichia coli clinical isolates from 5667 patients was determined over a 4-year period (1995-1998). Information about the patients' age, sex, specimen type, date, origin and susceptibility to Escherichia coli isolates was studied, and the c2 test was used for statistical comparison. Overall, 1003 (17.70%) patients out of the 5667 included in the study presented ciprofloxacin resistance. The annual resistance observed over this 4-year period was not considered statistically significant. The resistant isolates were more frequent among men, in urine specimens and in outpatients, and increased with different age groups. The average age of patients with resistant isolates was 61.29 years (SD 21.56) and that of patients with susceptible isolates was 39.76 years (SD 27.41). A similar rate of resistance was observed among outpatients from health centers and those from hospital outpatient services. The higher resistance rates were found in outpatients from the urology department. The resistance to other fluoroquinolones remained the same and was not significant for norfloxacin; it increased starting from 1997 for pefloxacin at the expense of ciprofloxacin-sensitive isolates.
