SUSCEPTIBILITY SURVEY OF PIPERACILLIN TAZOBACTAM AND SOME BETA-LACTAMCOMPARATORS IN ITALY/

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%).