In France, the overall proportion of penicillin-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae has decreased from 53% in 2002 to 38% in 2006, and the proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from 33% in 2001 to 26% in 2007. Although the rates remain very high compared to northern European countries, these trends suggest that the prevention efforts implemented since 2000 through two national programmes (the national plan for preserving the efficacy of antibiotics and the national infection control programme) and updated recommendations for pneumococcal vaccination are successful. (R.A.)