CURRENT CHEMOTHERAPY OF INFECTIONS CAUSED BY PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA

In addition to carbenicillin, the newer beta-lactam antibiotics such as ticarcillin and azlocillin are now available for the chemotherapy of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. We investigated the in vitro effect of these antibiotics on 233 isolates from clinical material. We were particularly careful, when choosing the experimental material, to exclude copies of the same individual strain, and we achieved this by combining various epidemiological typing procedures. A comparison of carbenicillin, ticarcillin and azlocillin according to the concentrations at which half of the 233 strains were inhibited showed the ticarcillin values to be higher than those of azlocillin by a factor of 2.1, and carbenicillin values to be higher than those of azlocillin by a factor of 4.9. Individual strains also occured in which the inhibitory concentration for azlocillin was higher than that of carbenicillin (5 strains) or ticarcillin (11 strains). In 17 out of the 233 isolates no therapeutic success would have been within reach even with the newer beta-lactam antibiotics. The use of ticarcillin and azlocillin permits an extension of the indications for therapy with beta-lactam antibiotics in P. aeruginosa infections, from hitherto 76%, to 90% of the cases. If one includes the aminoglycosides gentamycin, tobramycin, sisomycin and amikacin in the therapeutic armoury, then the proportion of in vitro sensitive strains of P. aeruginosa in the material submitted for examination rises to 98%. © 1979 Verlagsgesellschaft Otto Spatz.