Activities of beta-lactams against Acinetobacter genospecies as determined by agar dilution and E-test MIC methods.

The agar dilution MIC method was used to test activities of ticarcillin, ticarcillin-clavulanate, amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, ampicillin, ampicillin-sulbactam, piperacillin, piperacillin-tazobactam, inhibitors alone, ceftazidime, and imipenem against 237 Acinetobacter genospecies. A total of 93.2% of strains were beta-lactamase positive by the chromogenic cephalosporin method. Overall, ampicillin-sulbactam was the most active combination against all strains (MIC at which 50% of the isolates are inhibited [MIC50] and MIC90, 4.0 and 32.0 microg/ml; 86.9% susceptible at < or = 16 microg/ml), followed by ticarcillin-clavulanate (16.0 and 128.0 microg/ml; 85.7% susceptible at < or = 64 microg/ml), piperacillin-tazobactam (16.0 and 128.0 microg/ml; 84.8% susceptible at < or = 64 microg/ml), and amoxicillin-clavulanate (16.0 and 64.0 microg/ml; 54.4% susceptible at < or =16 microg/ml). Ceftazidime and imipenem yielded MIC50s and MIC90s of 8.0 and 64.0 microg/ml (ceftazidime) and 0.5 and 1.0 microg/ml (imipenem), respectively; 71.3% of strains were susceptible to ceftazidime at < or = 16 microg/ml, and 99.2% were susceptible to imipenem at < or = 8 microg/ml. Sulbactam was the most active beta-lactamase inhibitor alone (MIC50 and MIC90, 2.0 and 16.0 microg/ml); clavulanate and tazobactam were less active (16.0 and 32.0 microg/ml for both compounds). Enhancement of beta-lactams by beta-lactamase inhibitors was not always seen in beta-lactamase-positive strains, and activity of combinations such as ampicillin-sulbactam was due to the inhibitor alone. Acinetobacter baumannii was the most resistant genospecies. By contrast, Acinetobacter haemolyticus, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Acinetobacter johnsonii, Acinetobacter junii, Acinetobacter radioresistens, and other non-Acinetobacter baumannii strains were more susceptible to all compounds tested. E-test MICs were within 1 dilution of agar dilution MICs in 38.4 to 89.6% of cases and within 2 dilutions in 61.6 to 98.6% of cases.