[Activity of cephems and carbapenems against clinically isolated Mycobacterium abscessus]

To screen effective useful drugs for disease due to M. abscessus, we determined MIC of 3 cephems [ceftazidime (CAZ), cefoxitin (CFX), flomoxef (FMOX)] and 3 carbapenems [imipenem (IPM), panipenem (PAPM), meropenem (MEPM)] for 8 strains of clinically isolated M. abscessus by micro-dilution method using MGIT system. In all the 8 strains, MICs of CAZ are higher than 32 micrograms/ml. MIC50, MIC90, MIC range of CFX are 32 micrograms/ml, > 32 micrograms/ml and 16- > 32 micrograms/ml respectively, and for FMOX, 16 micrograms/ml, 32 micrograms/ml and 16-32 micrograms/ml; for IPM, 8 micrograms/ml, 16 micrograms/ml and 8-16 micrograms/ml; for PAPM, 4 micrograms/ml, 16 micrograms/ml and 4-16 micrograms/ml; for MEPM, 8 micrograms/ml, 16 micrograms/ml and 8-16 micrograms/ml. From this study, it is concluded that FMOX, IPM, PAPM and MEPM can be clinically useful drugs in the treatment of the disease due to M. abscessus.