Multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae Isolates Research Articles

Antimicrobial susceptibility of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Enterobacteriaceae isolates to fosfomycin

The advancing antimicrobial drug resistance among Enterobacteriaceae renders the evaluation of potential novel therapeutic options necessary. We sought to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of fosfomycin against multidrug-resistant (MDR) Enterobacteriaceae isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility to fosfomycin and 12 additional antibiotics of MDR Enterobacteriaceae isolates collected between November 2007 and April 2009 at the University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, was examined using the Etest method. A total of 152 MDR Enterobacteriaceae isolates were studied, including Klebsiella pneumoniae (76.3%), Escherichia coli (17.1%), Proteus mirabilis (4.6%) and other species (2.0%). Antimicrobial susceptibility rates were highest for fosfomycin (92.8%), tigecycline (92.1%) and colistin (73.0%) followed by imipenem (35.5%), tetracycline (20.4%), gentamicin (19.7%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (12.5%) and ciprofloxacin (10.5%). Of the 152 isolates, 85 (55.9%) were extensively drug-resistant (XDR), of which 78 (91.8%) remained susceptible to fosfomycin. Susceptibility to fosfomycin of the 79 carbapenemase-producing, 34 extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing and 24 metallo-β-lactamase-producing isolates was 94.9%, 94.1% and 83.3%, respectively. In conclusion, in this study fosfomycin exhibited good in vitro antimicrobial activity against MDR and XDR Enterobacteriaceae. We suggest further evaluation of the potential clinical utility of fosfomycin against infections caused by these pathogens.

In vitro activity of tigecycline against multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae isolates from a Belgian hospital

Bacterial resistance among Gram-negative pathogens is a challenging clinical problem. Tigecycline has been developed specifically to overcome resistance. The aim of this study was to assess the in vitro activity of tigecycline against ESBL-producing Escherichia coli, ESBL-producing Klebsiella spp., and multidrug-resistant Enterobacter spp. Between May 2007 and March 2008, 26 strains of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli, 10 strains of ESBL-producing Klebsiella spp., and 27 strains of multidrug-resistant Enterobacter spp. were isolated consecutively from inpatients with a documented infection in which the collected isolate was identified as the probable causative organism. The in vitro susceptibility against tigecycline was measured by the E-test method. MIC(50) values were 1 microg/ml, 2 microg/ml, and 3 microg/ml respectively. MIC(90) values were respectively 1.5 microg/ml, 4 microg/ml, and 12 microg/ml. Nonsusceptibility rates of 35%, 100%, and 96% respectively were found using EUCAST breakpoints. Despite the limited number of strains tested, our in vitro data suggest that tigecycline is unsuitable for the treatment of infections with multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in our setting. Therefore, we suggest that larger multicenter studies should be conducted to reconsider the value of tigecycline for the treatment of infections with multidrug-resistant, Gram-negative bacteria.