Cefetamet pivoxil is a new ß lactamase orally stable administered cephalosporin. Antimicrobial resistance among respiratory pathogens has become an important problem for both the physician and the microbiologist and the patterns of resistance vary greatly depending on geographic location, often requiring in vitro susceptibility testing of isolates. PURPOSE - The in vitro activity of cefetamet, the microbiologically active metabolite of the prodrug cefetamet pivoxil, was compared with other 11 drugs against 376 bacterial strains recently isolated from patients with respiratory tract infections. METHODS - The comparative activity in vitro of cefetamet and other 11 antimicrobial agents was measured against 376 bacterial strains isolated from patients with respiratory tract infections, during a six month period. Through the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration by the microdilution technique, patterns of antimicrobial resistance were reported. RESULTS - Cefetamet showed hihg in vitro activity against all the bacteria tested, possessing a spectrum of activity similar to that other recently developed oral cephalosporins. The good activity of cefetamet against ß-lactamase producing isolates, like Moraxella catarrhalis, can be due to its ß-lactamase stability. At a concentration of 1.0µg/mL, cefetamet inhibited 97% of all the tested bacteria. CONCLUSION - The MIC90 of the cumulative susceptibility results of the 12 antimicrobics tested in the 376 strains studied, confirm the excellent activity of cefetamet against the common respiratory tract pathogens.
Respiratory tract infections; In vitro activity; Oral cephalosporins.
