Trimethoprim resistance of Escherichia coli in outpatients in Finland after ten years' use of plain trimethoprim

• Published in: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
• Main Authors: Huovinen, Pentti, Renkonen, Olli-Veikko, Pulkkinen, Leena, Sunila, Ritva, Grönroos, Paul, Klossner, Marja-Liisa, Virtanen, Simo, Toivanen, Paavo
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1985
• Subjects: Original articles; Rovaniemi
• Online Access: http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/16/4/435; https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/16.4.435

Development of trimethoprim resistance among Escherichia coli collected from urine samples in three areas in Finland was studied in 1978–1984. Three different trends of development of resistance were found: in the Turku area resistance has increased evenly during 1978–1982 from 5·4% to 10·1% but thereafter a plateau seems to have been reached; in the Helsinki area resistance increased rapidly from 2·9% in 1980 to 11·1percnt; in 1984, possibly due to the spread of a trimethoprim resistance transposon Tn7, which occurred significantly more often among E. coli strains in this area than in the Turku area; in the Rovaniemi area resistance has been at a plateau level, between 3·1 and 5·7% during the whole study. No clear correlation between the consumption of trimethoprim and the level of resistance was found. The frequency of trimethoprim resistance in E. coli isolated from patients <65 years was 5·2% and in those isolated from patients ≥65 years 14·;7%.