From October 2001 to September 2002, we collected the specimen from 370 patients with lower
respiratory tract infections in 16 institutions in Japan, and investigated the susceptibilities of the isolated bacteria to various
antibacterial agents and
antibiotics and patients' characteristics. Of 458 strains that were isolated from specimen (mainly from sputum) and assumed to be bacteria causing in
inflammation, 456 strains were investigated. The breakdown of the isolated bacteria were: Staphylococcus aureus 69, Streptococcus pneumoniae 72, Haemophilus influenzae 85, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (non-mucoid) 44, P. aeruginosa (mucoid) 13, Klebsiella pneumoniae 32, Moraxella subgenus Branhamella catarrhalis 32, and others. Of 69 S. aureus strains, those with 4 micrograms/mL or more of MIC of
oxacillin (methicillin-resistant S. aureus: MRSA) occupied 43.5%.
Vancomycin and
arbekacin showed the most potent activities against MRSA as observed in 2000. The frequency of S. pneumoniae exhibiting low sensitivity to
penicillin (
penicillin-intermediate S. pneumoniae: PISP +
penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae: PRSP) was 59.7% and both rates of PISP and PRSP were the highest after 1992.
Carbapenems had strong activities against S. pneumoniae. Especially,
panipenem and
imipenem inhibited the growth of all 72 strains at 0.125 and 0.5 microgram/mL, respectively. Generally, all drugs had strong activities against H. influenzae with MIC90s of 16 micrograms/mL or less. The drug that had the strongest activity against H. influenzae was
levofloxacin, which inhibited the growth of 80 of the 85 strains at 0.063 microgram/mL. Against P. aeruginosa mucoid strain,
meropenem had a strong activity with MIC90 of 0.5 microgram/mL while, against non-mucoid strain,
tobramycin had a strong activity with MIC90 of 2 micrograms/mL. K. pneumoniae showed good susceptibilities to all drugs except
ampicillin and
minocycline, and the MIC90s were 4 micrograms/mL or less. Particularly,
cefmenoxime,
cefpirome, and
imipenem had the strongest activity (MIC90: 0.125 microgram/mL), and
cefozopran had a strong activity, inhibiting the growth of all strains at 0.25 microgram/mL. Also, all drugs generally had strong activities against M. (B.) catarrhalis. MIC90s of all drugs were 4 micrograms/mL or less. The drug that had the strongest activity was
minocycline and
levofloxacin inhibiting all 32 strains at 0.063 microgram/mL. Most of the patients with respiratory
infection were aged 70 years or older, accounting for approximately a half of the total (40.5%). As for the incidence by the diseases,
bacterial pneumonia and
chronic bronchitis were the highest, being noted in 39.2% and 37.3% of all the patients, respectively. The bacteria frequently isolated from the patients with
bacterial pneumonia were S. aureus (19.3%) and S. pneumoniae (19.9%). In contrast, H. influenzae (22.0%) were frequently isolated from the patients with
chronic bronchitis. Before the drug administration, the bacteria frequently isolated from the patients were S. pneumoniae (20.8%) and H. influenzae (21.5%). S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae decreased after the initiation of drug administration while S. aureus increased. The isolation frequency of P. aeruginosa was higher after than before the initiation of drug administration. The bacteria were frequently isolated from the patients who had already treated with cephems were S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. From the patients who had already treated with
macrolides, S. pneumoniae was the most frequently isolated while S. aureus was the most frequently isolated from the patients pre-treated with
quinolones.