S. Stefani et al., SUSCEPTIBILITY SURVEY OF PIPERACILLIN TAZOBACTAM AND SOME BETA-LACTAMCOMPARATORS IN ITALY/, Drugs under experimental and clinical research, 24(2), 1998, pp. 105-113
From September 1994 to March 1995 an Italian multicenter in vitro stud
y to evaluate the susceptibility of piperacillin/tazobactam compared w
ith that of imipenem, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime and ampicil
lin/sulbactam against aerobic bacterial pathogens isolated in 132 diff
erent hospitals, was undertaken. In total, 26,732 isolates were collec
ted but only 25,266 aerobic bacteria were able to be evaluated (16,863
Gram-negative and 8,403 Gram-positive). Escherichia coil was the most
frequent pathogen isolated (25.9%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus
(14.9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (13.9%), Enterococcus faecalis (8.2%)
and Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.9%). Piperacillin/tazobactam had a genera
l spectrum of activity (84.8% susceptible strains) comparable to imipe
nem (87.9%), and was distinctly greater than ceftazidime (71.1%).