The vitro efficacy of beta-lactam and beta-lactamase inhibitors against multidrug resistant clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

In vitro activity of beta-lactam antibiotics and their beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations were evaluated for their activity against clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. tuberculosis H37Ra. Agar dilution, the BACTEC 460 system and beta-lactamase activity tests were used. Results using the BACTEC 460 and enzyme activity tests showed the best beta-lactamase inhibitor for M. tuberculosis H37Ra to be clavulanic acid. Cefazolin-clavulanic acid gave the lowest minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values using dilution tests and M. tuberculosis H37Ra. beta-Lactam antibiotics were combined with clavulanic acid and tested for in vitro activity against 50 selected multidrug-resistant (MDR) and 50 susceptible clinical isolates. Seventy-four percent of the isolates were inhibited by cefazolin-clavulanic acid combination. These results suggested that an appropriate combination of beta-lactam and beta-lactamase inhibitors might be useful in the treatment of tuberculosis due to multidrug-resistant strains.