INTRODUCTION Several reports have shown marked heterogeneity of antibiotic pharmacokinetics (PK) in patients admitted to ICUs, which might potentially affect outcomes. Therefore, the pharmacodynamic (PD) parameter of the efficacy of β-lactam antibiotics, that is, the time that its concentration is above the bacteria minimal inhibitory concentration (T > MIC), cannot be safely extrapolated from ...

Eight new beta-lactam antibiotics and rosaramicin were tested for their activity against penicillin-susceptible and multiply resistant pneumococci. All of the beta-lactam drugs were 50- to 150-fold less active against the drug-resistant pneumococci when compared with their activity against penicillin-susceptible pneumococci. Rosaramicin activity was similar to that of erythromycin.

This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of 364 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates and studied the genotypes of S. pneumoniae with high level beta-lactam resistance in Taiwan. Clonal complexes related to Spain(23F)-1, Taiwan(19F)-14, and Taiwan(23F)-15 were responsible for the spread of isolates with high beta-lactam resistance.

Both ampicillin and cefuroxime therapy of neonates selected drug- and species-dependent beta-lactam resistance patterns in fecal strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. This was in contrast to our previous findings that ampicillin, but not cefuroxime, contributed to the emergence of beta-lactam resistance also by the promotion of nosocomial spread of resistant strains.

Therapeutic use of cephaloridine, a beta-lactam antibiotic, in humans is associated with carnitine deficiency. A potential mechanism for the development of carnitine deficiency is competition between cephaloridine and carnitine for the renal reabsorptive process. OCTN2 is an organic cation/carnitine transporter that is responsible for Na(+)-coupled transport of carnitine in the kidney and other...

β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitors (BLIs) have previously demonstrated antimicrobial activity against Acinetobacter baumannii (AB). Colistin retains the highest susceptibility rate against A. baumannii, and has demonstrated synergy with other antimicrobials, including β-lactam-BLIs. Therefore, we assessed the potential individual activity and synergistic combinations in vivo against carbapenem-sus...

Two types of Escherichia coli mutants tolerant to beta-lactam antibiotics were isolated. One is E. coli chi2452, which showed a tolerant response against beta-lactam antibiotics when grown at 42 degrees C, and the others are the mutants C-80 and C-254, selected from mutagenized E. coli chi1776 by cycles of exposure to ampicillin, cephaloridine, and starvation of the nutritionally required diami...

The human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is susceptible to the β-lactam antibiotics penicillin G and ampicillin, and these are the drugs of choice for the treatment of listerial infections. However, these antibiotics exert only a bacteriostatic effect on this bacterium and consequently, L. monocytogenes is regarded as β-lactam tolerant. It is widely accepted that the phenomenon of bacterial to...

Background Allergic reactions to drugs are often unpredictable and can lead to serious side effects such as anaphylactic shock. According to the hapten hypothesis, any drug with a molecular weight lower than 1000 daltons cannot induce an immune response by itself and must be bound to a protein. Antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells (DC), internalize hapten-protein conjugates and dig...