Protective activity of habekacin and four other aminoglycosides in mouse septicaemia caused by Enterobacteriaceae.

The in vivo efficacy of habekacin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic obtained by chemical derivation from dibekacin, was compared to that of gentamicin (GEN), tobramycin (TOB), kanamycin (KAN) and amikacin (AMI) in a protection test in mice. The 50% effective dose (ED50) was determined in groups of animals challenged with bacterial suspensions injected intraperitoneally together with mucin, and treated subcutaneously 1 h and 6 h later. The bacterial strains used were: Escherichia coli (three GEN sensitive strains and one GEN-KAN-TOB resistant strain), Enterobacter cloacae (one GEN-KAN resistant strain), Serratia marcescens and Klebsiella pneumoniae (one GEN sensitive strain and one GEN resistant strain). In this model, habekacin was found to be as active as GEN against GEN sensitive strains and more active than AMI on GEN, GEN-KAN and GEN-KAN-TOB resistant strains.