Meeting the challenge of antibiotic resistance: The PROTEKT US study

The problem of antibiotic resistance continues to undermine the prospects for effective treatment of community-acquired respiratory tract infections in the United States and around the world. A new international surveillance initiative, the Prospective Resistant Organism Tracking and Epidemiology for the Ketolide Telithromycin (PROTEKT) study, is collecting data on the resistance of common respiratory pathogens to antibacterial drugs in 25 countries. This study also affords the opportunity to examine bacterial susceptibility to telithromycin, the first agent in a new category of antibacterials, the ketolides. The US portion of this program (PROTEKT US) was launched in 2000 and has yielded preliminary data on the national and regional antibiotic susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae, the most important respiratory tract pathogen in treatment resistance and associated adverse outcomes. Thus far, analyses from PROTEKT US have revealed substantial rates of resistance of S pneumoniae to beta-lactams and macrolides, as well as emerging resistance to fluoroquinolones. However, fully 100% of the isolates examined have been susceptible to telithromycin. This agent, which is available in Europe and should become available for clinical use in the United States soon, appears to hold promise for meeting the challenge of antibiotic resistance.