Activity of ceftaroline against serotyped Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from Europe and South Africa associated with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (2007-08).

OBJECTIVES: To determine the activity of ceftaroline (the active metabolite of the prodrug ceftaroline fosamil), a new cephalosporin recently approved in the USA for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, against serotyped Streptococcus pneumoniae causing community-acquired bacterial pneumonia from Europe and South Africa.

METHODS: During 2007-08, 74 centres submitted 857 isolates of S. pneumoniae from patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. These were re-identified and serotyped. MICs of ceftaroline and 12 comparators were determined by CLSI broth microdilution at a central laboratory.

RESULTS: Ceftaroline was very active against all 857 S. pneumoniae isolates (MIC(90) 0.12 mg/L). The MIC(50) for South African isolates was 0.06 mg/L compared with 0.004 or 0.008 mg/L for isolates from elsewhere. Antibiotic resistance was also higher in South Africa than other countries. Serotypes 3, 1, 7 and 11 were more susceptible to ceftaroline (MIC(90) = 0.008 mg/L) and the reference antibiotics than the population as a whole. Ceftaroline showed a biphasic MIC distribution (associated with cefuroxime susceptibility), the extent of which differed between isolate populations. Nevertheless, the highest ceftaroline MIC observed was only 0.5 mg/L (two isolates: one from the UK and one from South Africa).

CONCLUSIONS: These data from a large collection of S. pneumoniae isolates during 2007-08 from Europe and South Africa with varying serotype and antibiotic susceptibility, confirm the excellent in vitro activity of ceftaroline against S. pneumoniae causing community-acquired bacterial pneumonia in both adults and children.