Endemic Emergence of Cephalosporin-Resistant Enterobacter: Relation to Prior Therapy

Abstract

The “second” and “third” generation cephalosporins offer striking antimicrobial activity against a wide spectrum of Enterobacteriaceae. Nevertheless, mutants resistant to these drugs have emerged in both laboratory and clinical settings. For example, before the commercial availability of the third-generation agents, we treated three cardiac surgery patients for Enterobacter mediastinitis with aminoglycosides and high doses of cefamandole. In two, initial treatment failed due to emergence of strains that were not only resistant to cefamandole, but also to then experimental third-generation drugs. Despite such reports and in vitro studies of the mechanisms of resistance, the frequency with which broad-spectrum cephalosporin resistance develops in clinical practice is not clear. To help delineate this problem, we have reviewed our hospital's experience with Enterobacter strains resistant to newer cephalosporins (using cefamandole and cefotaxime as prototypes) and the relation of resistant strains to cephalosporin use, with special attention to our cardiac surgery patients.