Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To investigate the types of bacteria isolated from skin lesions in adolescent patients with acne vulgaris and analyze their drug resistance to commonly used antibacterial drugs.
METHODS A total of 80 adolescent patients with acne vulgaris admitted to the Seventh Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from Mar. 2022 to Mar. 2024 were enrolled. The contents of facial acne skin lesions were collected for bacterial identification and the E-test method was employed to evaluate the drug resistance rates of isolated bacteria to commonly used antibacterial drugs.
RESULTS Among the collected skin lesion samples in this study, 74 strains (92.50%) of Propionibacterium acnes, 76 strains (95.00%) of Staphylococcus epidermidis and 12 strains (15.00%) of S. aureus were detected. No statistically significant differences were observed in the detection rates of P. acnes, S. epidermidis and S. aureus among patients of different genders, ages, disease courses or severity levels. P. acnes exhibited high sensitivity to tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline (all > 95%) but was almost completely resistant to metronidazole. Its sensitivity rate to macrolides such as erythromycin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, roxithromycin and azithromycin were low (< 50%). S. epidermidis showed sensitivity rates of 67.11%, 81.58% and 82.89% to tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline, respectively, with high drug resistance to metronidazole (96.05%) and low sensitivity rate to erythromycin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, roxithromycin and azithromycin (< 60%). S. aureus demonstrated sensitivity rates of 58.33%, 75.00% and 75.00% to tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline, respectively, while its sensitivity rates to erythromycin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, roxithromycin and azithromycin were 33.33%, 41.67%, 50.00%, 41.67% and 33.33%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS The predominant bacteria isolated from skin lesions in adolescent patients with acne vulgaris are S. epidermidis and P. acnes, with a lower detection rate of S. aureus. All three isolated bacteria exhibit high sensitivity to tetracycline antibacterial drugs but significant drug resistance to macrolides and near-complete drug resistance to metronidazole.