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Acinetobacter baumannii-calcoaceticus complex is the most commonly identified species in the genus Acinetobacter and it accounts for a large percentage of nosocomial infections, including bacteremia, pneumonia, and infections of the skin and urinary tract. A few key clones of A. baumannii-calcoaceticus are currently responsible for the dissemination of these organisms worldwide. Unfortunately, multidrug resistance is a common trait among these clones due to their unrivalled adaptive nature. A. baumannii-calcoaceticus isolates can accumulate resistance traits by a plethora of mechanisms, including horizontal gene transfer, natural transformation, acquisition of mutations, and mobilization of genetic elements that modulate expression of intrinsic and acquired genes.

Objectives Physicians must leverage several factors when making antibiotic therapy decisions, including route of administration and duration of therapy. Oral administration provides several potential advantages including increased accessibility, prevention of hospitalizations and earlier discharges. Sulopenem—a broad-spectrum, synthetic penem β-lactam agent—uniquely possesses both oral and IV formulations along with noted stability among antimicrobial-resistant subsets. This study evaluated the in vitro activity of sulopenem and comparator agents against contemporary Enterobacterales and anaerobic clinical isolates predominantly from patients with bloodstream, intra-abdominal and urinary tract infections. Methods A contemporary collection of 1647 Enterobacterales and 559 anaerobic isolates was assembled from medical centres in Europe and the USA. Isolates were susceptibility tested using the CLSI reference methods: broth microdilution for Enterobacterales and agar dilution for anaerobes. Results Sulopenem demonstrated potent in vitro antimicrobial activity (MIC50/90, 0.03/0.25 mg/L) against Enterobacterales isolates regardless of infection type, inhibiting 99.2% of isolates at ≤1 mg/L. This activity was conserved against resistant phenotypes including ESBL-phenotype Escherichia coli (MIC50/90, 0.03/0.06 mg/L) and ESBL-phenotype Klebsiella pneumoniae (MIC50/90, 0.06/1 mg/L). Sulopenem maintained activity against ciprofloxacin-, nitrofurantoin- and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole-non-susceptible subsets (MIC50/90, 0.03–0.06/0.12–0.5 mg/L). Against anaerobic isolates, sulopenem (98.9% inhibited at ≤4 mg/L) and meropenem [98.4% susceptible (CLSI)] were the most active compounds tested. Conclusions The potent in vitro activity of sulopenem against this large collection of recent Enterobacterales and anaerobic clinical isolates from multiple infection types supports its further clinical evaluation in the treatment of intra-abdominal and urinary tract infections.

Background Following the invasion of eukaryotic cells, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium replaces PBP2/PBP3, main targets of β-lactam antibiotics, with PBP2SAL/PBP3SAL, two homologue peptidoglycan synthases absent in Escherichia coli. PBP3SAL promotes pathogen cell division in acidic environments independently of PBP3 and shows low affinity for β-lactams that bind to PBP3 such as aztreonam, cefepime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime and cefalotin. Objectives To find compounds with high affinity for PBP3SAL to control Salmonella intracellular infections. Methods An S. Typhimurium ΔPBP3 mutant that divides using PBP3SAL and its parental wild-type strain, were exposed to a library of 1520 approved drugs in acidified (pH 4.6) nutrient-rich LB medium. Changes in optical density associated with cell filamentation, a read-out of blockage in cell division, were monitored. Compounds causing filamentation in the ΔPBP3 mutant but not in wild-type strain—the latter strain expressing both PBP3 and PBP3SAL in LB pH 4.6—were selected for further study. The bactericidal effect due to PBP3SAL inhibition was evaluated in vitro using a bacterial infection model of cultured fibroblasts. Results The cephalosporin cefotiam exhibited higher affinity for PBP3SAL than for PBP3 in bacteria growing in acidified LB pH 4.6 medium. Cefotiam also proved to be effective against intracellular Salmonella in a PBP3SAL-dependent manner. Conversely, cefuroxime, which has higher affinity for PBP3, showed decreased effectiveness in killing intracellular Salmonella. Conclusions Antibiotics with affinity for PBP3SAL, like the cephalosporin cefotiam, have therapeutic value for treating Salmonella intracellular infections.

BackgroundAztreonam/avibactam is under development to treat infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria. We evaluated the in vitro activities of aztreonam/avibactam and comparators against a global collection of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), including ceftazidime/avibactam-resistant isolates.MethodsIsolates were consecutively collected (24 924; 1/patient) from 69 medical centres in 36 countries during 2019–21. Isolates were susceptibility tested by CLSI broth microdilution. All CRE isolates (n = 1098; 4.4%) were in silico screened for carbapenemase (CPE) genes after genome sequencing. CRE susceptibility results were stratified by CPE, geography and resistance phenotype.ResultsAztreonam/avibactam inhibited 99.6% of CREs at ≤8 mg/L (MIC50/90, 0.25/0.5 mg/L), including 98.9% (345/349) of ceftazidime/avibactam-resistant isolates. Aztreonam/avibactam activity was consistent across geographical regions (98.9%–100.0% inhibited at ≤8 mg/L), but susceptibility to comparators varied markedly. Susceptibility (CLSI criteria) for ceftazidime/avibactam and meropenem/vaborbactam ranged from 80.2% and 77.5% in Western Europe to 39.5% and 40.3% in the Asia-Pacific region, respectively. Aztreonam/avibactam retained activity against isolates non-susceptible to colistin (99.7% inhibited at ≤8 mg/L) or tigecycline (98.6% inhibited at ≤8 mg/L). A CPE gene was identified in 972 CRE isolates (88.5%). The most common CPEs were KPC (43.1% of CREs), NDM (26.6%) and OXA-48–like (18.7%); 57 isolates (5.2%) had >1 CPE gene. Aztreonam/avibactam inhibited 99.9% of CPE producers at ≤8 mg/L, whereas ceftazidime/avibactam and meropenem/vaborbactam exhibited limited activity against isolates producing MBL and/or OXA-48-like enzymes.ConclusionsAztreonam/avibactam activity was not adversely affected by clinically relevant CPEs. Our results support aztreonam/avibactam development to treat infections caused by CRE, including MBL producers.

BackgroundThe Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) lowered the Enterobacterales-susceptible/-resistant breakpoints for amikacin in 2023 from ≤16/≥64 mg/L to ≤4/≥16 mg/L and the breakpoints for gentamicin and tobramycin from ≤4/≥16 mg/L to ≤2/≥8 mg/L. Because aminoglycosides are frequently used to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), we evaluated the impact of these changes on the susceptibility rates (%S) of Enterobacterales collected from US medical centers.MethodsA total of 9809 Enterobacterales isolates were consecutively collected (1/patient) from 37 US medical centers in 2017–2021 and susceptibility was tested by broth microdilution. Susceptibility rates were calculated using CLSI 2022, CLSI 2023, and US Food and Drug Administration 2022 criteria. Aminoglycoside-nonsusceptible isolates were screened for genes encoding aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes (AMEs) and 16S rRNA methyltransferases (16RMT).ResultsThe CLSI breakpoint changes mostly affected amikacin, especially against MDR (94.0%S to 71.0%S), extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing (96.9%S to 79.7%S), and CRE (75.2%S to 59.0%S) isolates. Plazomicin was active against 96.4% of isolates and retained potent activity against CRE (94.0%S), ESBL-producing (98.9%S), and MDR (94.8%S) isolates. Gentamicin and tobramycin showed limited activity against resistant subsets of Enterobacterales. The AME-encoding genes and 16RMT were observed in 801 (8.2%) and 11 (0.1%) isolates, respectively. Plazomicin was active against 97.3% of the AME producers.ConclusionsThe spectrum of activity of amikacin against resistant subsets of Enterobacterales was drastically reduced when interpretative criteria based on pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic parameters that are currently used to establish breakpoints for other antimicrobials were applied. Plazomicin was markedly more active than amikacin, gentamicin, or tobramycin against antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacterales.