Activity of Ceftazidime-Avibactam against Clinical and Isogenic Laboratory Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates Expressing Combinations of Most Relevant β-Lactam Resistance Mechanisms

The activity of ceftazidime-avibactam was compared with that of ceftazidime alone and meropenem against a collection of 190 Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates recovered from a multicenter study of bloodstream infections. The addition of avibactam increased ceftazidime susceptibility in the complete collection of strains (64.7% to 91.1%) and particularly among subsets of isolates showing AmpC hyperproduction (10.9% to 76.1%) or multidrug resistance (MDR) profiles (27% to 77.8%). The MICs of ceftazidime-avibactam, in contrast with those of ceftazidime or meropenem, remained at ≤4 μg/ml for a panel of 16 P. aeruginosa PAO1 isogenic mutants expressing multiple combinations of the most relevant β-lactam resistance mechanisms.