Antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from dogs with otitis externa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common cause of otitis externa in dogs, and treatment of these infections is becoming problematic because of the increasing number of multiresistant strains. The aim of the present study was to compare the in vitro activities of cefepime, ceftazidime, enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and ticarcillin/clavulanic acid against 104 strains of P aeruginosa isolated from dogs with otitis externa. Antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentrations, in μg/ml, were evaluated by the E test (bioMérieux). The most active compound was ceftazidime, with 100 per cent efficiency. The majority of tested strains were susceptible to ticarcillin/clavulanic acid (89.4 per cent), followed by ciprofloxacin (88.5 per cent) and cefepime (60.6 per cent). The highest resistance was observed to enrofloxacin (51.9 per cent) and gentamicin (43.3 per cent). Large numbers of strains were intermediately susceptible to antibiotics registered for use in veterinary medicine in Croatia--enrofloxacin (47.1 per cent) and gentamicin (41.3 per cent).