Worldwide study of cefoperazone susceptibility

In vitro susceptibility to cefoperazone of more than one million clinical aerobic bacterial isolates was evaluated in 369 hospitals in Japan, the United States, Canada, France, Austria, and Hungary. Standard versions of the disk diffusion method were used according to interpretive criteria approved in the respective countries, and comparisons were made among the countries and among various body sites. Susceptibility of organisms varied little within most species among the countries. Minor differences in methodology and in interpretive criteria may explain some of the variations observed among countries and hospitals. The susceptibility of key pathogens to cefoperazone among countries ranged from 91% to 98% for Escherichia coli, 73% to 91% for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 90% to 95% for Klebsiella pneumoniae, 73% to 92% for Enterobacter cloacae, 74% to 92% for Staphylococcus aureus, and 91% to 97% for Proteus mirabilis. Susceptibility of isolates from the urinary tract did not vary markedly from that in other body sites.