Antibacterial activity of cefditoren against major community-acquired respiratory pathogens recently isolated in Italy

In this study we evaluated the in vitro activities of cefditoren - a broad-spectrumoral cephalosporin - and other comparator agents against 2,396 fresh isolates fromcommunity-acquired respiratory tract infections, collected from 6 clinical Italian microbiologylaboratories.On penicillin-susceptible pneumococci and Streptococcus pyogenes, cefditorendemonstrated to be the most active antibiotic (MIC90 values of 0.03 and 0.06 mg/L respectively),showing only a slight decrease in potency on penicillin-intermediate and resistantpneumococci (MIC90 value 0.5 mg/L, 1.0 mg/L respectively). All the othercomparators displayed MIC90 values of 4 - 8 mg/L for penicillins and of 4 to >64 mg/Lfor the oral cephalosporins. Cefditoren and levofloxacin were the most active againstMSSA (MIC90 0.5 mg/mL). Cefditoren displayed a uniformly potent inhibitory activity(MIC90 of 0.03 mg/L) against all strains of Haemophilus influenzae, regardless oftheir ampicillin resistance (mediated or not by beta-lactamase production), whileagainst Moraxella catarrhalis MIC90 values were higher against beta-lactamasepositive(0.25 mg/L). Cefditoren was active also against Klebsiella pneumoniae andEscherichia coli: in this case its activity was comparable with that of levofloxacin.In conclusion, cefditoren, due to its potent activity, is a new effective therapeuticoption for the treatment of respiratory tract infections.