NATIONWIDE SURVEILLANCE OF PARENTERAL ANTIBIOTICS CONTAINING MEROPENEM ACTIVITIES AGAINST CLINICALLY ISOLATED STRAINS IN 2006

Abstract

The antibacterial activity of meropenem (MEPM) and other parenteral antibiotics against clinical isolates of 876 strains of Gram-positive bacteria, 1764 strains of Gram-negative bacteria, and 198 strains of anaerobic bacteria obtained from 30 medical institutions during 2006 was measured. The results were as follows;
1. MEPM was more active than the other carbapenem antibiotics tested against Gram-negative bacteria, especially against enterobacteriaceae and Haemophilus influenzae. MEPM was also active against most of the species tested in Gram-positive and anaerobic bacteria, except for multi-drug resistant strains including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
2. As for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, all of the MEPM-resistant strains were resistant to imipenem (IPM). MEPM showed low cross-resistant rate both againt IPM-resistant P. aeruginosa (41.8%) and ciprofloxacin-resistant P. aeruginosa (33.3%).
3.The proportion of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) strains was 4.3% (6 strains) in Escherickia coli, 1.1% (1 strain) in Citrobacter freundii, 21.7% (5 strains) in Citrobacter koseri, 3.1% (4 strains) in Klebsiella pneumoniae, 3.3% (3 strains) in Enterobacter cloacae, 0.8% (1 strain) in Serratia marcescens, and 4.9% (2 strains) in Providencia spp. The proportion of metallo-β-lactamase strains was 3.1% (10 strains) in P. aeruginosa.
4. Of all species tested, there were no species, which MIC₉₀ of MEPM was more than 4-fold higher than those in our previous study. Therefore, there is almost no significant decrease in susceptibility of clinical isolates to meropenem.
In conclusion, the results from this surveillance study suggest that MEPM retains its potent and broad antibacterial activity and therefore is a clinically useful carbapenem at present, 11 years after available for commercial use.