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Multi-level Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Resources (MASTER)

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Questions & Answers: September 2001
Group A and Group B streptococci

Consider the following situation: A urine specimen collected from a woman in her 8th month of pregnancy yields 70,000 CFU/mL of Group B Streptococcus and 100,000 CFU/ml of Escherichia coli. Given this information, should susceptibility testing be performed on both organisms, or just the E. coli? Could you give references substantiating your answer?

Answer:

If you check NCCLS M100-S11, Table 2H (Streptococcus spp. Other than Streptococcus pneumoniae), General Comment #1 states "...susceptibility testing of penicillins and other beta-lactams approved by the FDA for treatment of Group A and Group B streptococci is not necessary for clinical purposes and need not be done routinely." Group B streptococci are all susceptible to penicillin (and ampicillin), which is the drug of choice for treating Group B streptococcal infections. Thus, we would test only the E. coli, but include a comment regarding the penicillin (ampicillin) susceptibility of Group B streptococci in the report.

This page last reviewed: 7/12/2004

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