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For 212 oropharyngeal isolates of Candida albicans, the fluconazole MICs for 50 and 90% of strains tested were 0.5 and 16 micrograms/ml, respectively, and those of itraconazole were 0.05 and 0.2 micrograms/ml, respectively. Of 16 isolates for which fluconazole MICs were > 64 micrograms/ml, itraconazole MICs for 14 were < or = 0.8 micrograms/ml and for 2 were > 6.4 micrograms/ml. Most fluconazole-resistant strains remained susceptible to itraconazole; whether itraconazole will prove effective for refractory thrush remains to be shown.

Fourteen mupirocin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated over 18 months; 12 exhibited low-level resistance, while two showed high-level resistance. Highly mupirocin-resistant strains contained a large plasmid which transferred mupirocin resistance to other S. aureus strains and to Staphylococcus epidermidis. This plasmid and pAM899-1, a self-transferable gentamicin resistance plasmid, have molecular and biologic similarities.