Microbiological profile of telithromycin, the first ketolide antimicrobial.

Telithromycin, the first of the ketolide antimicrobials, has been specifically designed to provide potent activity against common and atypical/intracellular or cell-associated respiratory pathogens, including those that are resistant to beta-lactams and/or macrolide-lincosamide-streptograminB (MLS(B)) antimicrobials. Against gram-positive cocci, telithromycin possesses more potent activity in vitro and in vivo than the macrolides clarithromycin and azithromycin. It retains its activity against erm-(MLS(B)) or mef-mediated macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes and against Staphylococcus aureus resistant to macrolides through inducible MLS(B) mechanisms. Telithromycin also possesses high activity against the Gram-negative pathogens Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis, regardless of beta-lactamase production. In vitro, it shows similar activity to azithromycin against H. influenzae, while in vivo its activity against H. influenzae is higher than that of azithromycin. Telithromycin's spectrum of activity also extends to the atypical, intracellular and cell-associated pathogens Legionella pneumophila, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae. In vitro, telithromycin does not induce MLS(B) resistance and it shows low potential to select for resistance or cross-resistance to other antimicrobials. These characteristics indicate that telithromycin will have an important clinical role in the empirical treatment of community-acquired respiratory tract infections.