Killing kinetics of meropenem against penicillin-resistant pneumococci.

The killing kinetics of meropenem against sixteen clinical isolates of pneumococci (12 penicillin-resistant, three penicillin-intermediate and one penicillin-sensitive) were studied. Meropenem was tested at 1x, 2x and 4x the MIC for each individual isolate. The results showed a good bactericidal activity with rapid killing of pneumococci (killing > 3 log10 cfu/mL was obtained for nine strains). This strategy needs clinical assessment and might prove to be a suitable alternative to penicillin and cephalosporins for the treatment of mixed infections involving multiresistant pneumococci.