Background: The potential for promotion of intestinal colonization with healthcare-associated pathogens by new antibiotics used to treat infections due to multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli is unclear.
Methods: Mice treated for 3 days with daily subcutaneous phosphate-buffered saline (control), ceftazidime/avibactam, ceftolozane/tazobactam, ceftaroline, and meropenem/vaborbactam were challenged with 10,000 colony-forming units (CFU) of vancomycin-resistant (VRE) resistant to each of the antibioics or carbapenemase-producing 1 day after the final treatment dose. The concentrations of VRE or in stool were measured on days 1, 3, 6, and 15 after challenge.