| Abstract: | As the post-marketing surveillance of panipenem/betamipron (Carbenin), MICs of panipenem (PAPM) against 1355 clinical isolates of 28 species from 15 medical institutions all over Japan from June 2000 to March 2001 were measured using the broth microdilution method approved by the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and compared with those of parenteral carbapenem antibacterials, imipenem (IPM) and meropenem (MEPM), and parenteral cephem antibacterials, cefozopran, cefepime, and sulbactam/cefoperazone. The activity of PAPM was comparable to that of IPM against almost all species tested. Compared with MEPM, PAPM was more active against Gram-positive bacteria and Bacteroides spp., and less active against Gram-negative bacteria. Compared with the parenteral cephems, PAPM was more active against most of species tested and its MIC ranges were narrower than those of the cephems as were those of other carbapenems. In this surveillance study, the incidence of resistance in various species were as follows: 39.3% for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, 47.3% for penicillin-intermediate Streptococcus pneumoniae (PISP), 15.1% for penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae (PRSP), 0.9% for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli, 3.4% for ESBL producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, 19.2% for beta-lactamase producing Haemophilus influenzae, 24.0% for beta-lactamase-negative ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) H. influenzae, and 1.0% for metallo-beta-lactamase producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Against these resistant strains, carbapenems including PAPM showed generally more potent activity than cephems. It was noted that PAPM showed the most potent activity against PISP and PRSP, which showed high incidence of 62.4% totally, among tested drugs. Metallo-beta-lactamase producing P. aeruginosa exhibited high resistance and BLNAR H. influenzae also exhibited low susceptibility against all tested drugs. But no remarkable change in the activity of PAPM against other species was observed in this study compared with that in the studies before the marketing of Carbenin. Furthermore, it is necessary to pay much attention to the trend of resistant strains such as PRSP, metallo-beta-lactamase producing bacteria, and BLNAR H. influenzae. |
