Promising new carbapenem antibiotics for treatment of neonatal meningitis due to Campylobacter fetus.

Campylobacter fetus is a rare etiological agent of neonatal meningitis. However, it is a clinically significant bacterium because many cases of neonatal meningitis caused by C. fetus result in death or severe sequelaen. Recently, two new carbapenem antibiotics, meropenem (MEPM) and panipenem (PAPM), which possess relatively good ability to penetrate into the cerebrospinal fluid and a lower risk of inducing seizures than imipenem (IPM), have been developed in Japan2,3). We evaluated the in vitro antibacterial activity of the drugs against clinically isolated C. fetus by determining the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC). Materials and Methods