Clindamycin-induced suppression of toxic-shock syndrome-associated exotoxin production

Clindamycin is a derivative of lincomycin, which is generally regarded to inhibit protein synthesis after binding to the 50S subunit of bacterial ribosomes. The antibiotic also has the capacity to suppress expression of certain bacterial exotoxins, such as exfoliative toxin and streptolysin O and S, by an as-yet-undefined mechanism. In the present study the effect of clindamycin (provided by J. Sanford, Upjohn Co, Kalamazoo, Mich) on various TSS isolates of S aureus was evaluated. These isolates are consistently resistant to penicillin and ampicillin but are considered sensitive to many other antibiotics.