Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, 730 William Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E0W3, Canada. hjadam@gmail.com
This study evaluated the prevalence of fluoroquinolone usage and investigated the association between usage and resistance in respiratory isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Canada. Fluoroquinolone susceptibility testing was conducted on S. pneumoniae collected from 25 medical centres across Canada over nine study years. Fluoroquinolone prescriptions and consumption figures were derived from data in the IMS Health, Canada CompuScript Audit. Between 1997 and 2006, 11825 S. pneumoniae isolates were collected. Ciprofloxacin resistance rates increased significantly (P or = 65 years). Outpatient ciprofloxacin and respiratory fluoroquinolone prescriptions increased by 55.6% (38.2 prescriptions/1000 population to 59.4 prescriptions/1000 population; P