Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Actinomyces species with 12 antimicrobial agents

Abstract

Actinomyces species appear to be susceptible to a wide range of beta-lactam agents and these, when combined with beta-lactamase inhibitors, should be regarded as agents of first choice. Ciprofloxacin performed poorly. Tetracyclines also demonstrated poor performance. This is the first study of antimicrobial susceptibilities for a number of accurately identified clinical isolates of Actinomyces spp. There are a number of species differences in susceptibility profiles to the antimicrobials tested, suggesting that accurate identification and speciation may have an impact on clinical outcome.