In Vitro Activity of Tigecycline Against Acinetobacter baumannii Strains Isolated From Nosocomial Infections

Aims: Acinetobacter species usually affect hospitalized patients and are involved in many infections associated with a high mortality rate. Management of infections caused by these strains is very difficult, as the strains often display multiple drug resistance, including carbapenem resistance. Tigecycline is the most recently developed semi-synthetic broad spectrum glycylcycline antibiotic. The present study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro susceptibility of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from the hospitalized patients totigecycline.Materials and Methods: Acinetobacter isolates were collected from hospitalized patients with documented nosocomial infections between June 2005 and October 2006. Only one isolate per patient was accepted.Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by E-test against tigecycline and other frequently used antibiotics.Results: Overall, 98 A. baumannii isolates were collected from the cultures of nosocomially infected patients.Tigecycline was the most active agent against A. baumannii isolates among those tested, followed by netilmicin.MIC values of tigecycline were ≤ 2 μg/ml for 79 (80.6%) of the strains.Conclusions: Tigecycline may have an important role in the treatment of nosocomial infections with multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter isolates, for which there are limited choices available for treatment.