In-vitro activity of 21 beta-lactam antibiotics against penicillin-susceptible and penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae.

MICs of 21 beta-lactams were determined by agar dilution against 283 penicillin-susceptible (pen-S), 122 intermediate (pen-I) and 23 fully penicillin-resistant (pen-R) pneumococci. MICs of all beta-lactams increased with increasing MICs of penicillin. Clometocillin was the most active penicillin against pen-I or pen-R pneumococci. All oral cephalosporins except cefuroxime and cefpodoxime were less active than penicillin and none was satisfactory against pen-I or pen-R pneumococci. The parenteral third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins (except ceftazidime) were similar in activity to penicillin against pen-S isolates. Cefpirome showed the lowest mean MICs against pen-I and pen-R strains.