Nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial resistance among non-fermentative Gram-negative bacteria in Intensive Care Units in Taiwan: SMART programme data 2005.

A nationwide surveillance of the antimicrobial susceptibilities of glucose non-fermentative Gram-negative bacteria isolates was conducted from 1 September 2005 to 30 November 2005 in Taiwan. A total of 456 isolates were recovered from patients hospitalised in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of ten major teaching hospitals. Rates of resistant pathogens, such as ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19%) and imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (25%), were higher than those reported in 2000 (8% and 22%, respectively).

In vitro activities of various piperacillin and sulbactam combinations against bacterial pathogens isolated from Intensive Care Units in Taiwan: SMART 2004 programme data.

We investigated the in vitro activity of various piperacillin and sulbactam combinations against Gram-negative bacterial isolates from Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in Taiwan. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of 1030 bacterial isolates recovered from ICUs of nine major teaching hospitals was performed using the agar dilution method. Sulbactam was added to piperacillin either at a fixed sulbactam concentration of 4 mg/L and 8 mg/L or at a piperacillin:sulbactam ratio of 2:1 and 4:1.