Reduced intracortical facilitation in patients with cerebellar degeneration

Susceptibility patterns of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Enterococcus faecium obtained from various hospitals of the Tohoku district were documented. MICs of 6 antimicrobial agents against a total of 480 strains (380 strains were MRSA and 100 were E. faecium) were estimated. All MRSAs were susceptible to vancomycin, teicoplanin and quinupristin/dalfopristin, but all of them were resistant to ampicillin and benzylpenicillin. None of the E. faecium strains were found to be resistant to vancomycin, teicoplanin and quinupristin/dalfopristin. Excluding these, almost all strains of E. faecium were resistant to the remaining drugs. These data suggest that despite the emergence of vancomycin resistance to E. faecium in Europe and in the United States, vancomycin, teicoplanin and quinupristin/dalfopristin will nevertheless provide effective bactericidal activity in the Tohoku area of Japan.