Several antimicrobial agents are being investigated as alternatives to carbapenems in the treatment of infections caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae, which may be useful in avoiding overuse of carbapenems in the context of recent global spread of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. The most promising candidates for invasive infections so far are β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor comb...

OBJECTIVES Pseudomonas putida is an uncommon opportunistic pathogen, usually susceptible to antimicrobial agents. Data concerning resistance to antimicrobial agents in clinical P. putida isolates are limited. PATIENTS AND METHODS Susceptibilities to fluoroquinolones, carbapenems and other antibiotics were characterized in five clinical isolates of P. putida recovered from different patients w...

OBJECTIVES A consensus exists among clinicians that imipenem/cilastatin is the most epileptogenic carbapenem, despite inconsistencies in the literature. METHODS We conducted a meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials comparing carbapenems with each other or with non-carbapenem antibiotics to assess the risk of seizures for imipenem, meropenem, ertapenem and doripenem. RESULTS In th...

The carbapenems are a group of broad-spectrum beta-lactam antibiotic agents of which there are three parenteral preparations currently available in South Africa, namely imimpenem/cilastatin, meropenem and ertapenem. Owing to the fact that imipenem/cilastatin and meropenem have a broad spectrum of activity that includes Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species, they are ideal antibiotics for treatm...

Resistance to carbapenems has been documented by the production of carbapenemase or the loss of porins combined with extended-spectrum β-lactamases or AmpC β-lactamases. However, no complete comparisons have been made regarding the contributions of each resistance mechanism towards carbapenem resistance. In this study, we genetically engineered mutants of Klebsiella pneumoniae with individual a...

Background & Aims: The inappropriate use of antibiotics has led to antibiotic resistance in microorganisms of Enterobacteriaceae family, especially in carbapenems. The aim of this study was to identify the carbapenemase producing Citrobacter frundii and Citrobacter koseri isolated from clinical specimens. Methods: One hundred Citrobacter isolates from various patient samples i...

OBJECTIVES To study the comparative mortality associated with carbapenems and alternative antibiotics for the treatment of patients with extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-positive Enterobacteriaceae bacteraemia. METHODS We searched systematically PubMed and Scopus databases for studies providing data for mortality among patients treated with carbapenems, β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor comb...