J Med Microbiol 56 (2007), 798-802; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.47112-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644
In vitro activity of piperacillin/tazobactam and ertapenem against Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli in pure and mixed cultures
Kênia Valéria dos Santos,
Cláudio Galuppo Diniz,
Simone Cristina Coutinho,
Ana Carolina Morais Apolônio,
Luciana Geralda de Sousa-Gaia,
Jacques Robert Nicoli,
Luiz de Macêdo Farias and
Maria Auxiliadora Roque de Carvalho
Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Correspondence
Maria Auxiliadora Roque de Carvalho
marc{at}icb.ufmg.br
Received 7 December 2006
Accepted 18 February 2007
Ertapenem and piperacillin/tazobactam are ß-lactam antibiotics with a broad spectrum of activity used for the treatment of mixed infections in which Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli play an important aetiological role. In this study, the activities of piperacillin/tazobactam and ertapenem (MIC and timekill kinetics) against these bacteria were compared. MICs were determined by the agar dilution method, and the time and slope of timekill curves were analysed. In the in vitro pharmacodynamic assays, pure and mixed cultures of E. coli and B. fragilis were exposed to peak concentrations of ertapenem (8.0 µg ml1) and piperacillin/tazobactam (64.0/8.0 µg ml1) for 48 h. Treatment with ertapenem reduced the viability of E. coli and/or B. fragilis by 3 logs in all experiments, whereas piperacillin/tazobactam only affected the viability of B. fragilis. Both drugs exhibited their fastest rates of killing when bacteria were grown in mixed cultures. According to the results, ertapenem exhibited activity similar to that of piperacillin/tazobactam against B. fragilis alone or in mixed culture. However, ertapenem exhibited a markedly higher activity against E. coli alone or in combination with B. fragilis relative to piperacillin/tazobactam.
Abbreviations: LLA, lower limit of accuracy.
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K. V. d. Santos, J. R. Nicoli, W. A. Martins, S. C. Coutinho, A. C. M. Apolonio, C. G. Diniz, M. A. R. d. Carvalho, and L. d. M. Farias
Comparative activity of ertapenem and piperacillin tazobactam in a murine systemic infection model with Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli
J. Med. Microbiol.,
November 1, 2007;
56(11):
1576 - 1579.
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