title: Bacterial resistance: a worldwide problem.
abstract: The therapeutic crisis produced by emerging antimicrobial resistances has compromised the chemotherapy of hospitalized patients with serious infections. For the most prevalent resistance problems, meropenem, a new carbapenem, appears to provide a potency and spectrum for: 1) extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae; 2) Bush-Jacoby-Merdeiros group 1 enzyme-producing ceftazidime-resistant Enterobacter spp., Citrobacter freundii, and some Serratia spp.; 3) ceftazidime- and imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa; and 4) some Streptococcus spp. with elevated penicillin MICs. Documented in vitro study results using 1997 gram-negative blood stream infection isolates indicate a wider spectrum and a two- to fourfold greater potency for meropenem compared with imipenem. This was especially true for P. aeruginosa where 93.4% of strains were susceptible to meropenem (84.1% for imipenem). Also among over 30,000 reported in vitro meropenem results from the United States and Europe, 90.6% of gram-positive cocci and 99.1% of anaerobes were inhibited at < or = 4 microg/ml. Over 90% of ceftazidime-resistant blood stream infection strains were meropenem susceptible, a rate greater than those of imipenem, ciprofloxacin, and gentamicin. As the clinical utility of many contemporary antimicrobial agents is challenged by emerging resistance, the carbapenems (meropenem, imipenem) appear positioned for a greater role in the treatment of infections in hospitalized patients.
authors.affiliation: Medical Microbiology Division, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242, USA.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pfaller
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D000077731:Meropenem; D013845:Thienamycins / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D013845:Thienamycins; D000077731:Meropenem