In vitro antibacterial activity of cefepime against isolates of gram negative bacilli strains in children

Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity of cefepime against clinical isolates of gram negative bacilli strains in children. Methods: The susceptibility of cefepime against gram negative bacilli strains were determined by ATB G-5 drug sensitivity analyzer of French Bio-Merieux Company and compared with those of ceftazidime, cefotaxime, amoxicillin+potassium and piperacillin+tazobactam. Results: The rank order of susceptibility rate of the five agents was piperacillin+tazobactam 73.3%, amoxicillin+potassium 62.6%, cefepime 61.8%, ceftazidime 58.8% and cefotaxime 51.3%?The susceptibility rates of cefepime against acinetobacter baumannii, escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae and enterobacter cloacae were 82.4%, 70.3%, 65.6% and 27.3% respectively. There was no significant difference between ceftazidime, cefotaxime, amoxicillin+potassium and piperacillin+tazobactam (P0.05). Against pseudomonas aeruginosa, the susceptibility rate of cefepime (31.3%) was lower than that ceftazidime and piperacillin+tazobactam ( χ2=4.50, P0.05). Conclusion: Cefepime has powerful antibacterial activity against acinetobacter baumannii, escherichia coli and klebsiella pneumoniae. The antibacterial activity of cefepime is lower than that of ceftazidime and piperacillin+tazobactam against pseudomonas aeruginosa.