Abstract
Incidences of methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus (MRS) have been increasing because of the extensive uses of cephalosporins and semisynthetic, 9-lactamase-resistant penicillins. Most of these strains are known to be resistant to lactam antibiotics due to their production of penicillinases and mutated penicillin-binding proteins. Our recent clinical isolates of MRS were also suspected to be this type because of their temperature sensitive resistance to methicillin.
We studied in vitro antibiotic activity of cefuzoname (CZON) a cephalosporin developed against Staphylococcus, against these MRS in comparison with those of the representative cephalosporins, cefazolin (CEZ), cefamandole (CMD), cefotiam (CTM), cefoperazone (CPZ) and cefpiramide (CPM). It was found that CZON was the most active against MRS among these cephalosporins under normal body temperatures as well as at lower temperatures.