Corynebacterium diphtheriae is usually susceptible to most antibiotics and the primary treatment recommendations include erythromycin and penicillin.
Resistance to penicillin or multi-drug resistance is often seen in the following:
- C. amycolatum is often reported as being multidrug-resistant, primarily to ß-lactams, macrolides, clindamycin, aminoglycosides, and quinolones.
- C. jeikeium is resistant to many antibiotics including penicillins and aminoglycosides.
- C. urealyticum is another isolate that has amassed reports of multiple drug resistance including ß-lactams, aminoglycosides, macrolides, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole with variable susceptibility to quinolones.
- C. striatum is usually resistant to penicillin, clindamycin, erythromycin, and ciprofloxacin.
- C. tuberculostearicum is often resistant to penicillin and erythromycin, as well as gentamicin. C. xerosis has shown resistance to clindamycin, erythromycin, and nitrofurantoin.
Other Corynebacterium species included in this module are generally susceptible to most antibiotics or there is little information to infer about antibiotic susceptibilities.
