Abstract
Twenty strains of penicillin(PC)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ($MIC{\geqq}32U/ml$) were chosen randomly from recent isolates and submitted to the present experiment to see what effect the combined antibiotic action of moxalactam(MX) and fosfomycin(FM) would bring about on the cells, using MS-2 system. 1. The conventional agar dilution method and the rapid automatic MS-2 system were used in measuring the MICs of MX and FM against each strain and the comparison of the data obtained revealed no significant difference between the two methods in the titer and distribution of the MICs. 2. The automatic MS-2 system was, therefore, used alone in determining the combined growth inhibitory effect of MX and FM because of its more rapidness, and the obtained results were that most of the PC-resistant strains(16 out of 20, 80%) were synergistically inhibited by the two antibiotic combination while additive effect was observed in the remaining 4 strains(20%). 3. Thus, it is suggested that the growth of PC-resistant staphylococcal cells may be synergistically inhibited by MX and FM combination and the efficiency of two antibiotic action as well as MIC of single antibiotic may be more rapidly determined by the MS-2 system than by the conventional method.