In vitro activity of ampicillin plus sulbactam against anaerobes compared to ampicillin and cefoxitin

The antimicrobial susceptibility of 195 recent clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria was studied to ampicillin alone, ampicillin + 1 mg/l sulbactam, ampicillin + 5 mg/l sulbactam, and cefoxitin by means of agar dilution tests. The ampicillin-sulbactam combinations were the most effective drugs against species of the Bacteroides fragilis group, the MIC90 of ampicillin + 5 mg/l sulbactam for B. fragilis being less than 1 mg/l, compared to 256 mg/l of ampicillin, 4 mg/l of ampicillin + 1 mg/l sulbactam, and 8 mg/l of cefoxitin. No significant difference between ampicillin alone and in combination with sulbactam was observed against gram-positive anaerobic rods, Peptococcus spp. and Peptostreptococcus spp. with MIC's less than 2 mg/l.