We investigated the susceptibility of Candida species from clinical aseptic samples, including blood, at some hospitals in Saitama prefecture. Candida spp. detected from aseptic samples in the 6 institutes in Saitama prefecture from November 2007 to July 2011 were studied. The number of isolates was 85, which are 43 (50.6%) of Candida albicans, 24 (28.2%) of Candida parapsilosis, 5 (5.9%) of Candida glabrata, 5 (5.9%) of Candida tropicalis, 4 (4.7%) of Candida guilliermondii, 2 (2.4%) of Candida fermentati, 1 (1.2%) of Candida famata and Candida lusitaniae, respectively. All isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B. However, resistant isolates against micafungin were 3 in 5 of C. glabrata. We analyzed susceptibility of Candida spp. in Saitama prefecture in the article, and our study might be useful for the fungal therapy in the region.

Antimicrobials are commonly used to treat acute respiratory tract infection in adults. Furthermore, their overuse has raised concern. We conducted a field survey study that included 170 medical institutions from January 2008 to June 2010. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between the rate of antimicrobial use and patient outcomes with each indication. The study included 1753 patients diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infection. Antimicrobials were used for treatment of 1420 of these patients, whereas 333 cases were not treated with antimicrobials. After 3 days of treatment, patients administered antimicrobials experienced a higher improvement rate than those who did not receive antimicrobial treatment (92.2% vs. 83.3%, p<0.0001). However, after 7 days of treatment, the rates of improvement for patients in both groups were similar (95.0% and 93.4%, respectively, p=0.2391). In addition, according to the criteria for the usage of antimicrobials described in the Japanese Respiratory Society guidelines for the management of respiratory tract infection in adults, the patient were classified into the 3 categories (6 indication factors for antimicrobial use): Grade 1, ≤2 factors; Grade 2, 3–4 factors; Grade 3, 5–6 factors). The indication factors considered were the following: 1) temperature; 2) purulent sputum or nasal discharge; 3) tonsillar enlargement and tonsillolith/white puss; 4) middle otitis/sinusitis; 5) inflammatory reaction; and 6) high-risk patients. The results indicate that the improvement observed after 3 days of treatment in Grade 2 and Grade 3 patients was significantly higher with antimicrobial treatment than without antimicrobial treatment.

In conclusion, the administration of antimicrobials is not recommended in younger patients with no underlying disease. However, the use of antimicrobials is required in patients with a higher relative risk that corresponds to the presence of ≥3 of the 6 indication factors for antimicrobial use.

Arbekacin (ABK) is one of aminoglycosides which has indications for septicemia and pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Japan. ABK shows good clinical and microbiologiccal efficacies also against Gram-negative bacteria (GNB), including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, furthermore, ABK would be sometimes effective also against antimicrobial-resistant GNB. We investigated ABK inhalation, which showed good pulmonary drug delivery, for the treatment of pneumonia caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative organisms and MRSA. Six patients with pneumonia were treated with ABK inhalation therapy (50mg×three times/day). We observed clinical effect for multidrug-resistant organisms in 6/6 patients. Although routine use of aerosolized antibiotics might not be able to be recommended for multidrug-resistant organisms, we might be able to adopt the ABK inhalation therapy for pneumonia especially caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative organisms in some situations where systemic therapy alone might be failure or inadequate, or where intravenous access is not available because of systemic toxicity. Further studies would be needed for ABK inhalation therapy for pneumonia.

We investigated the susceptibility of 400 Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P. aeruginosa) clinical isolates to 3 antipseudomonal carbapenems, namely, doripenem (DRPM), meropenem (MEPM), and imipenem (IPM). The test strains were isolated from the following specimens: respiratory (n=194), urinary (n=61), digestive (n=38), pus (n=36), skin (n=21), blood (n=9), upper respiratory tract and oral cavity (n=8), and others (n=33) at Osaka City University Hospital from July to October 2013.

Test strains were categorized as susceptible, ≤2𝜇g/mL; intermediate, 4𝜇g/mL; and resistant, ≥8𝜇g/mL according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute criteria (M100-S22), updated on January 2012.

To compare the antimicrobial activities of these 3 carbapenems, the susceptibility rate for each agent was analyzed. Susceptibility to DRPM, MEPM, and IPM was 78.3%, 74.3%, and 64.8%, respectively, whereas resistance was 12.5%, 22.8%, and 28.5%, respectively. The frequency of strains resistant to DRPM was significantly lower than that for MEPM (p＜0.001) and IPM (p＜0.001).

To compare the activities of the 3 carbapenems against the P. aeruginosa clinical isolates, we plotted the numbers of strains against each minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) level. The MICs of DRPM were lower than those of MEPM in 19.8% of strains, and lower than those of IPM in 41.8% of strains, and the MICs of MEPM were lower than those of IPM in 33.0% of strains.

Further, we found that 7.7% of the MEPM-resistant strains were susceptible to DRPM, 23.7% of the IPM-resistant strains were susceptible to DRPM, and 9.6% of the IPM-resistant strains were susceptible to MEPM; however, none of the MEPM-resistant strains was susceptible to IPM, and none of the DRPM-resistant strains was susceptible to MEPM or IPM.

In conclusion, the in vitro activity of DRPM against the P. aeruginosa clinical isolates was superior to those of MEPM and IPM.