title: Update on the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia.
abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important cause of nosocomial pneumonia associated with a high morbidity and mortality rate. This bacterium expresses a variety of factors that confer resistance to a broad array of antimicrobial agents. Empirical antibiotic therapy is often inadequate because cultures from initial specimens grow strains that are resistant to initial antibiotics. Surveillance data, hospital antibiogram and individualization of regimens based on prior antibiotic use may reduce the risk of inadequate therapy. The use of combination therapies for P. aeruginosa pneumonia has been a long-advocated practice, but the potential increased value of combination therapy over monotherapy remains controversial. Doripenem and biapenem are new carbapenems that have excellent activity against P. aeruginosa; however, they lack activity against strains that express resistance to the currently available carbapenems. The polymyxins remain the most consistently effective agents against multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa. Strains that are panantibiotic-resistant are rare, but their incidence is increasing. Antibiotic combinations that yield some degree of susceptibility in vitro are the recourse, although the efficacy of these regimens has yet to be established in clinical studies. Experimental polypeptides may provide a new therapeutic approach. Among these, the anti-PcrV immunoglobulin G antibody that blocks the type III secretion system-mediated virulence of P. aeruginosa has recently entered Phase I/II clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System, Buffalo, NY, USA. solh@buffalo.edu
authors.forename: Ali A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: El Solh
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alhajhusain
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends; D015780:Carbapenems / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D011113:Polymyxins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015780:Carbapenems; D011113:Polymyxins