Sir, Ratjen et al. recently published an important paper in JAC reporting the pharmacokinetics of colistin after inhalation of colistin methanesulphonate in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). HPLC was used to measure the concentrations of the formed colistin. The paper raises a number of important issues that deserve comment. It is important not to use the terms colistin and colistin methanesu...

Colistin-induced nephrotoxicity is a dose-limiting adverse effect when colistin is used against Gram-negative pathogens. This study examined the nephroprotective effect of melatonin against colistin in rats. Rats (n = 7 per group) were treated intravenously twice daily with saline, colistin (at increasing doses from 0.5 to 4.0 mg/kg), melatonin (5 mg/kg), or both melatonin and colistin for 7 da...

Colistin-resistant mutants were obtained from 17 colistin-susceptible strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli. The stability of colistin resistance in these mutants was investigated. Three of four colistin-resistant P. aeruginosa mutants recovered colistin susceptibility in colistin-free medium; however, colistin-susceptible revert...

The increased reliance on colistin for treating multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections has resulted in the emergence of colistin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We attempted to identify genetic contributors to colistin resistance in vitro evolved isogenic colistin-resistant and -susceptible strains of two P. aeruginosa lineages (P5 and P155). Their evolutionary paths to acquis...

PURPOSE Colistin is used for the treatment of pneumonia associated with multidrug- resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, the best route of administration and dosage is not known. We report our experience with aerosolized colistin in twelve patients with pneumonia caused by colistin-only-susceptible (COS) A. baumannii. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively r...

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a significant clinical problem worldwide and colistin is being used increasingly as "salvage" therapy. MICs of colistin against A. baumannii indicate its significant activity. However, resistance to colistin in A. baumannii has been reported recently. Clonotypes of 16 clinical A. baumannii isolates and ATCC 19606 were determined by puls...

Interest has recently been shown again in colistin because of the increased prevalence of infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Although the potential for nephrotoxicity is a major dose-limiting factor in colistin use, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie colistin-induced nephrotoxicity. In this study, we focused on an endocytosis receptor, megalin, that...

OBJECTIVES Colistin combination therapy may be required to treat biofilm-associated infections. We evaluated bacterial killing and emergence of colistin resistance with colistin and doripenem combinations against biofilm-embedded and planktonic multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa. METHODS One colistin-susceptible reference strain (PAO1) and two colistin-susceptible MDR clinical i...

Emerging resistance to colistin in clinical Acinetobacter baumannii isolates is of growing concern. Since current treatment options for these strains are extremely limited, we investigated the in vitro activities of various antimicrobial combinations against colistin-resistant A. baumannii Nine clinical isolates (8 from bacteremia cases and 1 from a pneumonia case) of colistin-resistant A. baum...

BACKGROUND Resistance to colistin is emerging in multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria and no solid pharmacodynamic data are available for colistin against Klebsiella pneumoniae. METHODS Twenty-one multidrug-resistant clinical K. pneumoniae isolates from 16 different clinical sites worldwide were employed. The genetic relatedness of these isolates was examined with PFGE. In vitro pharmac...