Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Cutibacterium acnes in Egyptian Acne Patients

Background. Recent studies have revealed that antibiotics are yielding unsatisfactory outcomes in certain patients with acne. Therefore, attention was drawn to antibiotic resistance as a rapidly growing problem that might lead to treatment failure. Objective. The study aims to assess the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of Cutibacterium acne isolates in a sample of Egyptian patients to the antibiotics most frequently prescribed for acne vulgaris. Methods. A total of 155 patients with moderate to severe acne were included in the study. Skin swab samples were collected and inoculated. Cutibacterium acnes was identified based on colonial morphology, Gram stain, and biochemical reactions and further confirmed by VITEK 2 automated systems. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using minimum inhibitory concentrations determined by the Epsilometer test. Results. Cutibacterium acnes was detected in 50 samples (32.2%), alone in 17 (10.9%), and in combination with Staphylococci in 33 (21.3%) cases. The results of the antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed high resistance to erythromycin, followed by clindamycin, tetracycline, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and doxycycline. Conclusion. Cutibacterium acnes showed high resistance rates to most antibiotics used in the clinical treatment of acne vulgaris.