The treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients chronically infected with
Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) bacteria requires extensive and aggressive antibiotics therapy, exposing these bacteria to prolonged antibiotics-selective
pressure. In the present study, we have compared the susceptibility patterns to 13 antimicrobials of 94 Bcc isolates obtained
from 15 Portuguese CF patients in the course of chronic infection during a five-year survey. These isolates were previously
genotyped and represent 11 different strains of the species
B. cenocepacia (subgroups A and B),
B. cepacia,
B. multivorans, and
B. stabilis. The results are consistent with the notion that CF Bcc isolates are resistant to the most clinically relevant antimicrobials
and suggest an uneven distribution of resistance rates among the different species, with
B. cenocepacia subgroup A isolates being the most resistant. Phenotypic variants exhibiting differences in the antimicrobial susceptibility
patterns were obtained from the sputum samples of clinically deteriorated CF patients during chronic lung infection. The isolation
of resistant variants coincided with periods of pulmonary exacerbation and antibiotics therapy.