In vitro antimicrobial activity of tigemonam, a new orally administered monobactam

At five geographically separate medical centers, over 6,000 clinical bacterial isolates were tested for their susceptibility to tigemonam by the broth microdilution method. The antimicrobial spectrum of tigemonam was similar to that of aztreonam, but with two differences. Aztreonam was more active against Pseudomonas spp., and tigemonam was more active against some streptococci. Tigemonam was highly resistant to hydrolysis by the eight beta-lactamase enzymes tested. A significant (greater than a fourfold increase in the MICs of tigemonam) inoculum effect occurred when 3 of 13 isolates were tested with inocula of 5 X 10(5) and 1 X 10(7) CFU/ml. Tigemonam was bactericidal for all but 1 of the 13 isolates. Of the four quality-control strains recommended by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, only Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 provided on-scale results. The proposed MIC quality-control range of tigemonam for E. coli ATCC 25922 is 0.13 to 0.5 micrograms/ml.