title: Activity of cefepime against nosocomial blood culture isolates.
abstract: Cefepime is a new aminothiazolylacetamido cephalosporin with a wider spectrum and greater potency than many currently available cephalosporins. Since the blood culture isolates from patients of the study centre in Saudi Arabia are significantly more resistant to antimicrobial agents in clinical practice, we evaluated the in-vitro activity of cefepime and six other beta-lactam antibodies against 390 and 273 isolates of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively. Cefepime had a broad spectrum of activity against the Enterobacteriaceae (MIC50 < 0.12 mg/L), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter spp. and methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MIC50 2.0 mg/L). The activity of cefepime was generally two-to four-fold greater than that of ceftazidime. Resistance to cefepime was most often encountered with Serratia spp. (45%), Citrobacter spp. (25%), Enterobacter cloacea (22%), and Stenotrophomonos mattophilia (45%). It had little or no activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and enterococci. Cefepime was highly active, with a spectrum better than ceftazidime against Gram-negative, and better than cephalothin against Gram-positive blood culture isolates.
authors.affiliation: King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Qadri
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abumustafa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imambaccus
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Tullo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Domenico
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D000077723:Cefepime; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
chemical_list: D002511:Cephalosporins; D000077723:Cefepime