Open AccessAntibiotic susceptibilities of Afipia felis in axenic medium and in cells
Author(s) -
Max Maurin,
H Lepocher,
D Mallet,
Didier Raoult
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.07
H-Index - 259
eISSN - 1070-6283
pISSN - 0066-4804
DOI - 10.1128/aac.37.7.1410
Subject(s) - felis , microbiology and biotechnology , axenic , agar dilution , biology , amikacin , tobramycin , antibiotics , gentamicin , bacteria , doxycycline , aminoglycoside , virology , minimum inhibitory concentration , medicine , cats , genetics
Afipia felis, one of the putative agents of cat scratch disease (CSD), is a facultative intracellular bacterium. Although CSD is considered not to be susceptible to antibiotic therapy, sporadic case reports indicated that aminoglycosides may be effective. We determined the in vitro antibiotic susceptibilities of three A. felis strains in axenic medium and in a cell model. In axenic medium, A. felis was susceptible to imipenem, aminoglycosides, and rifampin when using either the broth dilution technique or the agar technique. When grown in HeLa cells, A. felis was susceptible to amikacin and tobramycin but was resistant to the other compounds tested. Despite its intracellular location, A. felis can apparently be reached by aminoglycosides. Thus, the in vitro data presented here are in accord with the clinical data obtained in patients suffering CSD.