amikacin were recommended as first-line antibiotics agents for non-MDR GNB infections; piperacillin/tazobactam and carbapenems for MDR GNB in community-acquired and healthcare-related or nosocomial infections, respectively; and vancomycin or linezolid for GPB infections, regardless of drug-resistance status. Multivariate analysis revealed days of hospital stay before SAI, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, white blood cell count, alanine aminotransferase, serum creatinine concentration, total bilirubin, and international normalized ratio as key independent predictors of 28-day mortality.CONCLUSION: MDR pathogens and antibiotic strategies were identified in patients with acute decompensated cirrhosis with culture-positive SAI, which may help optimize therapy and improve clinical outcomes.]]>
Alanine Transaminase ; Amikacin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Aztreonam ; Bilirubin ; Carbapenems ; Ceftazidime ; China ; Creatinine ; Cross Infection ; Escherichia coli ; Fibrosis ; Fungi ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; Gram-Positive Bacteria ; Hemorrhage ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; International Normalized Ratio ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Length of Stay ; Leukocyte Count ; Linezolid ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prevalence ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Vancomycin

We implemented a carbapenem-saving strategy in hemato-oncology patients from 2013, using an empirical combination of piperacillin-tazobactam and amikacin for high-risk hemato-oncology patients with febrile neutropenia, who remain hemodynamically unstable > 72 hours despite initial cefepime treatment. All-cause mortality was not different between the two periods (6.54 and 6.57 deaths per 1,000 person-day, P = 0.926). Group 2 carbapenem use significantly decreased after strategy implementation (78.43 vs. 67.43 monthly days of therapy, P = 0.018), while carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacilli did not show meaningful changes during the study period. Our carbapenem-saving strategy could effectively suppress carbapenem use without an increase of overall mortality.
Amikacin* ; Febrile Neutropenia ; Humans ; Mortality

The pathogen Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is the most common cause of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease worldwide. The decision to initiate long-term antibiotic treatment is difficult for the physician due to inconsistent disease progression and adverse effects associated with the antibiotic treatment. The prognostic factors for the progression of MAC pulmonary disease are low body mass index, poor nutritional status, presence of cavitary lesion(s), extensive disease, and a positive acid-fast bacilli smear. A regimen consisting of macrolides (clarithromycin or azithromycin) with rifampin and ethambutol has been recommended; this regimen significantly improves the treatment of MAC pulmonary disease and should be maintained for at least 12 months after negative sputum culture conversion. However, the rates of default and disease recurrence after treatment completion are still high. Moreover, treatment failure or macrolide resistance can occur, although in some refractory cases, surgical lung resection can improve treatment outcomes. However, surgical resection should be carefully performed in a well-equipped center and be based on a rigorous risk-benefit analysis in a multidisciplinary setting. New therapies, including clofazimine, inhaled amikacin, and bedaquiline, have shown promising results for the treatment of MAC pulmonary disease, especially in patients with treatment failure or macrolide-resistant MAC pulmonary disease. However, further evidence of the efficacy and safety of these new treatment regimens is needed. Also, a new consensus is needed for treatment outcome definitions as widespread use of these definitions could increase the quality of evidence for the treatment of MAC pulmonary disease.
Amikacin ; Body Mass Index ; Clofazimine ; Consensus ; Disease Progression ; Ethambutol ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; Macrolides ; Mycobacterium avium Complex* ; Mycobacterium avium* ; Mycobacterium* ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Nutritional Status ; Recurrence ; Rifampin ; Sputum ; Treatment Failure ; Treatment Outcome

amikacin (97.4%, 98.3%), and imipenem (99.8%, 98.8%). The susceptibility rates of Enterococcus spp. to ampicillin were 61.0%, amoxicillin/clavulanate, 63.6%; ciprofloxacin, 49.7%; imipenem, 65.2%; and vancomycin, 78.2%. The susceptibility rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. to imipenem were 77.4% and 36.7%, respectively.CONCLUSION: Enterococcus spp. with susceptibility to limited antibiotics was one of the main pathogens in Korean IAIs, along with E. coli and Klebsiella spp., which were highly susceptible to imipenem, amikacin, and piperacillin/tazobactam. Meanwhile, the low susceptibilities of E. coli or Klebsiella spp. to amoxicillin/clavulanate, advanced-generation cephalosporins, and ciprofloxacin should be considered when determining empirical antibiotic therapy in clinical practice.]]>
Acinetobacter ; Amikacin ; Ampicillin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cefotaxime ; Ceftazidime ; Cephalosporins ; Ciprofloxacin ; Cross Infection ; Enterococcus ; Epidemiology ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Imipenem ; Intraabdominal Infections ; Klebsiella ; Korea ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Peritonitis ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Retrospective Studies ; Vancomycin

Mycobacterium abscessus is the second most important pathogen in pulmonary disease caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), following Mycobacterium avium. Mycobacterium abscessus is classified into three subspecies: M. abscessus subsp. abscessus, M. abscessus subsp. massiliense, and M. abscessus subsp. bolletii. Mycobacterium abscessus is the most difficult to treat NTM due to its resistance to many antibiotics. Treatment should include an initial regimen of 2–3 injectable and oral antibiotics for several weeks or months, followed by inhaled amikacin and 1–3 oral antibiotics, depending on the subspecies and drug susceptibility patterns, including macrolide susceptibility. The continuation phase should be continued for a minimum of 12 months after culture conversion. Suitable injectable antibiotics include amikacin, imipenem, cefoxitin, and tigecycline, while oral antibiotics include macrolides (azithromycin or clarithromycin), clofazimine, linezolid, and moxifloxacin. Surgery can be a useful adjunctive therapy for some patients with refractory disease. However, the overall treatment prognosis is still unsatisfactory. Therefore, novel and more effective interventions are required for the treatment of M. abscessus pulmonary disease.
Amikacin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cefoxitin ; Clofazimine ; Humans ; Imipenem ; Linezolid ; Lung Diseases ; Macrolides ; Mycobacterium avium ; Mycobacterium ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Prognosis

The production of rmtB-encoded 16S rRNA methylases has emerged as a novel mechanism promoting high-level resistance toward aminoglycosides in Gram-negative bacteria. Between 2015 and 2017, 636 distinct commensal Escherichia (E.) coli isolates were collected from different farms in South Korea to determine the prevalence and molecular characteristics of rmtB. The positive rates of rmtB between all the isolates and amikacin-resistant isolates were 1.1 and 100%, respectively. High-level aminoglycoside resistance could be transferred by conjugation from rmtB-positive donors to higher amikacin-resistance efficacies. This is the first report of 16S rRNA methylase-encoding genes in E. coli isolated from food-producing animals in Korea.
Agriculture ; Amikacin ; Aminoglycosides ; Animals ; Escherichia coli ; Escherichia ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; Humans ; Korea ; Prevalence ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: We studied the pathogens and trends in antibiotic sensitivity pattern in children with urinary tract infection (UTI) over 8 years in order to evaluate adequate treatment. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of medical records of children with UTI from January 2009 to December 2016 in Daegu Fatima Hospital. Uropathogens and antibiotic sensitivity patterns were selected. Only 1 bacterial species with a colony count of ≥105 CFU/mL was considered a positive result. We compared 2 periods group (A: 2009~2012, B: 2013~2016) to investigate trends of antibiotic sensitivity pattern. RESULTS: During the 8 year period, 589 cases are identified (E. coli was cultured in 509 cases, 86.4%). Among all patients, this study investigated the antibiotic sensitivity of E. coli . Antimicrobial susceptibility to ampicillin was steadily low for both periods (A: 32.6%, B: 40.1%, P=0.125), and to amikacin was consistently high for both periods (A: 99.4%, B: 99.3%, P=1.000). Antibiotic sensitivity to third-generation cephalosporin decreased from period A to B (A: 91.7%, B: 75.5%, P=0.000). Antibiotic sensitivity to quinolone significantly decreased from A to B (A: 88.4%, B: 78.2%, P=0.003). The prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing E. coli increased from period A to B (A: 6.1%, B: 17.1%, P=0.000). CONCLUSION: This study showed that conventional antibiotic therapy for the treatment of pediatric UTI needs to be reevaluated. A careful choice of antibiotic is required due to the change in antibiotic sensitivity and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Amikacin ; Ampicillin ; Bacteria ; Child ; Daegu ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Urinary Tract

The susceptibility of Escherichia coli from community onset urinary tract infection (UTI) was evaluated by dividing community onset UTI into the simple community acquired-UTI (CA-UTI) and healthcare associated UTI (HCA-UTI) groups for a period of 10 years. The susceptibility of E. coli to most antibiotics, except amikacin and imipenem, continued to decrease. In the CA-UTI group, the susceptibility to cefotaxime was 88% in 2015, but rapidly decreased to 79.3% in 2017. The susceptibility to cefepime and piperacillin-tazobactam were 88.8% and 90.5% in 2017, respectively. In the HCA-UTI group, the susceptibility to most antibiotics markedly decreased to less than 60% by 2017. The incidence of ESBL-producing E. coli increased to 23.3% in the CA-UTI group in 2017.
Amikacin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cefotaxime ; Delivery of Health Care ; Escherichia coli ; Escherichia ; Imipenem ; Incidence ; Korea ; Tertiary Healthcare ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Urinary Tract

BACKGROUND: We examined the feasibility of a full-length gene analysis for the drug resistance-related genes inhA, katG, rpoB, pncA, rpsL, embB, eis, and gyrA using ion semiconductor next-generation sequencing (NGS) and compared the results with those obtained from conventional phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) in multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) isolates. METHODS: We extracted genomic DNA from 30 pure MDR-TB isolates with antibiotic susceptibility profiles confirmed by phenotypic DST for isoniazid (INH), rifampin (RIF), ethambutol (EMB), pyrazinamide (PZA), amikacin (AMK), kanamycin (KM), streptomycin (SM), and fluoroquinolones (FQs) including ofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin. Enriched ion spheres were loaded onto Ion PI Chip v3, with 30 samples on a chip per sequencing run, and Ion Torrent sequencing was conducted using the Ion AmpliSeq TB panel (Life Technologies, USA). RESULTS: The genotypic DST results revealed good agreement with the phenotypic DST results for EMB (Kappa 0.8), PZA (0.734), SM (0.769), and FQ (0.783). Agreements for INH, RIF, and AMK+KM were not estimated because all isolates were phenotypically resistant to INH and RIF, and all isolates were phenotypically and genotypically susceptible to AMK+KM. Moreover, 17 novel variants were identified: six (p.Gly169Ser, p.Ala256Thr, p.Ser383Pro, p.Gln439Arg, p.Tyr597Cys, p.Thr625Ala) in katG, one (p.Tyr113Phe) in inhA, five (p.Val170Phe, p.Thr400Ala, p.Met434Val, p.Glu812Gly, p.Phe971Leu) in rpoB, two (p.Tyr319Asp and p.His1002Arg) in embB, and three (p.Cys14Gly, p.Asp63Ala, p.Gly162Ser) in pncA. CONCLUSIONS: Ion semiconductor NGS could detect reported and novel amino acid changes in full coding regions of eight drug resistance-related genes. However, genotypic DST should be complemented and validated by phenotypic DSTs.
Amikacin ; Clinical Coding ; Complement System Proteins ; DNA ; Drug Resistance* ; Ethambutol ; Fluoroquinolones ; Isoniazid ; Kanamycin ; Levofloxacin ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Ofloxacin ; Pyrazinamide ; Rifampin ; Semiconductors* ; Streptomycin

We describe a cutaneous abscess caused by Nocardia abscessus in a previously healthy woman. A 74-year-old woman presented with recurrent bullae on her left forearm that developed 1 week prior and was initially suspected to be a cutaneous infection with Mycobacteria or Tinea corporis. Histopathologically, the skin lesion formed an abscess. A smear revealed a few branched Gram-positive filamentous microorganisms that formed a creamy white colony on a blood agar plate after incubation for 3 days. The colony tested negative on acid-fast bacilli (AFB) staining, but was positive on modified AFB staining. The isolate was confirmed to be N. abscessus by 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. The isolate was susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, amikacin, cefotaxime and erythromycin but resistant to penicillin. The patient was treated with clarithromycin but subsequently lost to follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a human cutaneous infection with N. abscessus in Korea.
Abscess* ; Agar ; Aged ; Amikacin ; Cefotaxime ; Clarithromycin ; Erythromycin ; Female ; Forearm ; Humans ; Korea ; Lost to Follow-Up ; Nocardia* ; Penicillins ; Skin ; Tinea ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination