Faropenem Susceptibility of Multidrug-resistant Contemporary Clinical Isolates from Zhejiang Province, China

Alternative antimicrobial therapies are urgently needed for a variety of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Faropenem is an orally available β-lactam in the class of carbapenem antibiotics. Thus far, little information is available on faropenem susceptibility of multidrug-resistant clinical isolates from China. Therefore, in the current study 141 contemporary clinical isolates, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA: n = 18), coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS: n = 16), Enterococcus faecalis ( n = 14), Enterococcus faecium ( n = 7), Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( n = 25), Klebsiella pneumoniae ( n = 21), Escherichia coli ( n = 20), and Acinetobacter baumannii ( n = 20), were collected between March 2018 and March 2019 and tested for susceptibility to faropenem and other antimicrobials using the broth microdilution method. All E. faecium , P. aeruginosa , and A. baumannii isolates were fully resistant to faropenem. However, most of the MRSA, CNS, E. faecalis , K. pneumonia , and E. coli isolates appeared to be susceptible to faropenem, with minimal inhibitory concentration 90 values of 4 mg/L, 2 mg/L, 2 mg/L, 4 mg/L, and 2 mg/L, respectively. Therefore, faropenem could be considered as alternative therapy for future treatment of multidrug-resistant MRSA, CNS, E. faecalis , K. pneumonia , and E. coli infections in China.