• Kyong Ran Peck, Min Ja Kim, Ji Young Choi, Hong Sun Kim, Cheol-In Kang, Yong Kyun Cho, Dae Won Park, Hee Joo Lee, Mi Suk Lee, and Kwan Soo Ko.
• Division of Infectious Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• J. Med. Microbiol. 2012 Mar 1; 61 (Pt 3): 353-360.

AbstractThe emergence of colistin or tigecycline resistance as well as imipenem resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii poses a great therapeutic challenge. The bactericidal and synergistic effects of several combinations of antimicrobial agents against imipenem-, colistin- or tigecycline-resistant A. baumannii isolates were investigated by in vitro time-kill experiments. Six imipenem-resistant A. baumannii blood isolates were examined in this study, including colistin- and tigecycline-susceptible, colistin-resistant but tigecycline-susceptible, and colistin-susceptible but tigecycline-resistant isolates. Time-kill studies were performed using five antimicrobial agents singly or in combinations (imipenem plus colistin, imipenem plus ampicillin-sulbactam, colistin plus rifampicin, colistin plus tigecycline, and tigecycline plus rifampicin) at concentrations of 0.5× and 1× their MICs. Only imipenem was consistently effective as a single agent against all six A. baumannii isolates. Although the effectiveness of combinations of 0.5× MIC antimicrobial agents was inconsistent, combination regimens using 1× MIC of the antimicrobial agents displayed excellent bactericidal activities against all six A. baumannii isolates. Among the combinations of 0.5× MIC antimicrobial agents, the combination of colistin and tigecycline showed synergistic or bactericidal effects against four of the isolates. This in vitro time-kill analysis suggests that antimicrobial combinations are effective for killing imipenem-resistant A. baumannii isolates, even if they are simultaneously resistant to either colistin or tigecycline. However, the finding that the combinations of 0.5× MIC antimicrobial agents were effective on only some isolates may warrant further investigation of the doses of combination agents needed to kill resistant A. baumannii.

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