Hemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas cepacia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

¹ State Serum Institute, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Present-day comprehensive treatment of CF patients has dramatically improved their prognosis. The intensive use of antibiotics has reduced the importance of the "original pathogens" such as S aureus; however, CF patients are still highly susceptible to respiratory tract bacterial infections, and new pathogens have consequently emerged. At present, multiply resistant P aeruginosa is the most important problem, but P cepacia, P maltophilia, and atypical mycobacteria are beginning to emerge as significant pathogens in CF patients. Until the basic defect in CF can be corrected, clinicians and microbiologists have to cope with the conflict between the use of efficient antibiotics and the development of increasingly drug-resistant bacteria.