COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON ACTIVITIES OF ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AGAINST CAUSATIVE ORGANISMS ISOLATED FROM PATIENTS WITH URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS (2002)

The bacterial strains isolated from 491 patients diagnosed as having urinary tractinfections (UTIs) in 13 institutions in Japan were supplied between August 2002 and July 2003. The susceptibilities of them to many kinds of antimicrobial agents were investigated. Of them, 578 strains were estimated as causative bacteria and used for the investigation. The number of them was 578 strains consisting of 177 Gram-positive bacterial strains (30.6%) and 401 Gram-negative bacterial strains (69.4 %).<BR>Against Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin (VCM) showed a strong activity and prevented the growth of all strains with 1μg/mL. The susceptibility of Staphylococcus epidermidis to cephems including cefotiam (CTM) was relatively good. Against Enterococcus faecalis, ampicillin (ABPC), imipenem (IPM), and VCM showed the strongest antibacterial activity (MIC₉₀: 2-4μg/mL). In addition, the low sensitive strains (MIC: ≥256μg/mL) to clarithromycin (CAM) were detected at 48.3% but none to cefozopran (CZOP). The antibacterial activity of cephems to Escherichia coli was generally good, and especially CZOP and cefpirome (CPR) showed the highest activity (MIC₉₀: ≤0.125μg/mL). Quinolone resistant E. coli was detected at frequency of 13.5%, which was higher than that in the last year. The antibacterial activity of cephems to Citrobacter freundii was generally lowbut CZOP and CPR had a strong acitivity (MIC90: 0.25 and 0.5 μg/mL, respectively). The antibacterial activity of cephems to Klebsiella pneumoniae was good and especially cefmenoxime (CMX), cefixime (CFIX), flomoxef (FMOX), CPR, and CZOP showed stronger activity (MIC₉₀: ≤0.125μg/mL). Against Serratia marcescens, meropenem (MEPM) had the highest antibacterial activity followed by CPR and CZOP. Against Proteus mirabilis, CMX, ceftazidime (CAZ), CPR, MEPM, carumonam (CRMN), and levofloxacin (LVFX) showed the strongest activity (MIC90: ≤0.125μg/mL). Among other cephems, CZOP and CFIX were also strong (MIC₉₀: 0.25μg/mL). The antibacterial activity of the drugs to Pseudomonas aeruginosa wasgenerally low, and MIC₉₀ of all the drugs were ranged from 64 to≥256μg/mL except IPM and amikacin (AMK) having 16μg/mL. The antibacterial activity of CZOP was relatively good (MIC₅₀: 8μg/mL).