Comparative in vitro activity of carumonam (Ro 17-2301/AMA-1080), a new monobactam, and ceftriaxone against aerobic or facultative gram-negative isolates.

Carumonam (Ro 17-2301/AMA-1080) is a new monobactam antibiotic. A comparative in vitro evaluation with ceftriaxone was undertaken against 153 gram-negative clinical aerobic or facultative bacteria, both producers and nonproducers of beta-lactamase. Results indicated that carumonam had an enhancement of activity for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella oxytoca, Citrobacter freundii and Enterobacter cloacae and parallelled that of ceftriaxone against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus spp. and Serratia marcescens. It can be concluded that carumonam could be an alternative of interest for the treatment of patients with infections due to gram-negative strains presumably or proven to be multiresistant.