title: The early bactericidal activity of a low-clearance liposomal amikacin in pulmonary tuberculosis.
abstract: The early bactericidal activity (EBA) of a liposomal preparation of amikacin (MiKasome) with a long plasma half-life of 120-200 h was examined in seven patients with newly diagnosed, smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Liposomal amikacin was given in slow iv infusions of 30 mg total amikacin/kg body weight on three successive days. Cfu counts were set up on 16 h sputum collections preceding the first dose and following each dose and were used for calculating the EBA. Despite the high concentrations of total amikacin, >1000 mg/L, obtainable in plasma, no evidence of EBA was obtained. In view of the considerable activity of liposomal amikacin in experimental murine tuberculosis, this finding indicates that liberation of amikacin from the long-life liposomes occurs only in macrophages that are not usually present in the vicinity of the large extracellular clumps of bacilli in the cavity caseum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Donald
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Sirgel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venter
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Parkin
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Van de Wal
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Mitchison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000583:Amikacin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006801:Humans; D008081:Liposomes; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015610:Serum Bactericidal Test / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008081:Liposomes; D000583:Amikacin