Three independent yearly analyses of the spectrum and potency of metronidazole: A multicenter study of 1,108 contemporary anaerobic clinical isolates

To comply with ongoing United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rec ommendations about the validation of prescribing information, in each of th ree years (1994, 1996, 1997) at six medical centers, metronidazole was test ed against greater than or equal to 50 strains of a range of contemporary a naerobic clinical bacteria. Species having greater than or equal to 90% sus ceptibility (MIC, less than or equal to 8 mug/ml) to metronidazole (fulfill ing FDA requirements) included Bacteroides fragilis, B. distasonis, B. ovat us, B. thetaiotaomicron, B. vulgatus, Fusobacterium spp. and Clostridium sp p. Only Eubacterium spp. and anaerobic Gram-negative cocci failed to achiev e the required proportion of susceptibility throughout the 3 year period. M etronidazole appears to remain highly active versus anaerobic species assoc iated with strict anaerobic organisms. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All r ights reserved.