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The clinical significance of pneumococcal biofilm formation is largely unknown. To clarify this, we tested whether the ability of pneumococcal clinical isolates to form biofilm in vitro accounts for the diverse clinical outcomes. Clinical pneumococcal isolates were cultured from the nasopharynx (n=106), middle ear effusion (n=43) and blood (n=55) of 204 children altogether. Biofilm formation, assessed by measuring optical density (OD) values in microtitre plates after crystal violet staining, did not differ between the bacteria from different sources (p=0.18), the mean OD values of the isolates being 0.119 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.100-0.138] in the nasopharynx samples, 0.094 (95% CI 0.069-0.119) in the acute otitis media cases, 0.109 (95% CI 0.077-0.141) in the secretory otitis media cases, 0.122 (95% CI 0.084-0.160) in those with sepsis and 0.175 (95% CI 0.071-0.280) in those with other invasive infections. Serotypes 33 and 14 were the most efficient in forming biofilms, whereas serotypes 3 and 38 were poor biofilm producers. We conclude that the clinical presentation of pneumococcal disease did not differ in relation to biofilm formation in vitro, even though there was marked variation between the clinical isolates and serotypes.

We have observed the efficiency of antibiotic-releasing polylactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) 80/20 in preventing Staphylococcus epidermidis attachment and biofilm formation in vitro. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of self-reinforced (SR) implants with enhanced antibiotic release on bacterial attachment and biofilm formation rates, and also on growth inhibition of Staphylococcus epidermidis. Cylindrical SR-PLGA+AB specimens (length 30 mm, diameter 3 mm) were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for attachment of S. epidermidis ATCC 35989 on biomaterial surface and formation of biofilm, after incubating with bacterial suspension of ca. 10 cfu/mL for 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days. SR-PLGA and SR-PLGA+AB implants were tested on agar plates by measuring the inhibition distance around implants. On the surface of SR-PLGA+AB, at days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21, the percentage of areas with not a single bacteria attached, was 88.6%, 71.1%, 73.7%, 73.7%, and 68.4%, respectively. On the areas where bacteria were detected, the number of bacterial cells remained low during whole study period, and no significant increase by time was seen. There was no biofilm observed on 97-99% of the examined areas during the whole study period on SR-PLGA+AB. In agar plates, the SR-PLGA+AB showed inhibition of bacterial growth, with (mean) 53.2 mm diameter of inhibition area with peeled implants and 50.5 mm with non-peeled implants. There was no inhibition seen around implants without ciprofloxacin. Bioabsorbable ciprofloxacin-releasing self-reinforced PLGA (SR-PLGA+AB) was superior to plain SR-PLGA in preventing bacterial attachment, biofilm formation, and also the growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis.