Source: BMC Cancer  |  Posted 8 years ago

Linezolid (LZD) is a promising new candidate to treat anaerobic bacterial infections, found to be effective against 265 different strains of bacteria tested by French researchers.

Although there has been an increase in antibiotic resistance of anaerobes worldwide, few studies have addressed anaerobes. Josette Behra-Miellet and colleagues of the University of Lille II, France, reviewed LZD antimicrobial activity against a wide range of anaerobic bacteria isolated from human derived specimens.

Bacterial strains collected by investigators included the []B. fragilis[] group (84), []Fusobacterium spp.[] (21), []Porphyromonas spp.[] (6), []Prevotella spp.[] (44), []Veillonella spp.[] (5), []Clostridium spp.[] (20), []Actinomyces spp.[] (4), []Propionibacterium spp.[] (13), non-sporulating Gram-positive bacilli (12) and Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (56).

LZD minimal inhibition concentrations (MICs) were compared with those of 5 anti-anaerobic reference drugs, including amoxycillin (alone or combined with clavulanic acid), imipenem, clindamycin and metronidazole. For the []B. fragilis[] group, cefoxitin, cefotetan and ticarcillin combined with clavulanic-acid were also investigated. Antibiotic dilutions were incorporated in Brucella blood agar with sterile defibrinated blood (5%) added as a growth medium.

MICs were read on plated after 48 hours of incubation in an anaerobic chamber at 35 to 36