Antibiotic susceptibility of Propionibacterium acnes isolated from patients with acne in a public hospital in Southwest China: prospective cross-sectional study

Objective Antibiotics have been routinely used for several decades against Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), but antibiotic resistance of P. acnes is becoming a global problem. Only one related Chinese study is available. The aim of this study was to assess the antibiotic susceptibility of P. acnes obtained from patients with acne in Southwest China.

Design This was a prospective cross-sectional study. Cutaneous samples were obtained from acne lesions on the face of 375 patients. Samples were cultured in anaerobic medium to identify the presence of P. acnes. Susceptibility tests of isolated P. acnes were performed for tetracycline, doxycycline, clindamycin, erythromycin, azithromycin and clarithromycin using the Epsilometer test.

Results P. acnes was isolated from 227 patients; 224 isolates (98.7%) were susceptible to doxycycline and 220 (96.9%) were susceptible to tetracycline, followed by clindamycin and clarithromycin in 101 (44.5%) and 102 (44.93%) isolates, respectively. Su...