title: Resistance surveillance in Italy: four-year results from the MYSTIC program.
abstract: The MYSTIC program is an international, multicenter surveillance study that compares the activity of meropenem, in centers that are prescribers, with that of imipenem, ceftazidime, piperacillin/tazobactam, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. These Italian data are from 3 centers (neutropenia, cystic fibrosis and intensive care units). A total of 2,072 (238 Gram-positive and 1,834 Gram-negative) aerobic microorganisms were collected during the study. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (33.4%) was the most isolated species followed by Escherichia coli (14.4%). All except one Enterobacteriaceae strain isolated were fully susceptible to meropenem. Moreover, the activity of meropenem against Enterobacteriaceae was about eight-fold greater than that of imipenem and four- to eight-fold more active than that of ceftazidime. Meropenem was highly active against non-fermentative Gram-negative microorganisms, exceeding the activity of most of the other antimicrobial agents tested. Moreover, meropenem showed increasing activity during the 4 years of study (starting from 86.2% in 1997 to 94.0% in 2000). In conclusion, our results indicate that meropenem has excellent potency and spectrum of activity despite being prescribed for the treatment of seriously ill patients, and appears to be a reliable option for the initial empirical treatment of serious nosocomial infections.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Patologia, Università di Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lo Cascio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giacobone
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cipriani
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sessa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Franchino
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology; D003625:Data Collection; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D000077731:Meropenem; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011159:Population Surveillance; D013845:Thienamycins / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D013845:Thienamycins; D000077731:Meropenem