Tedizolid phosphate is a second-generation oxazolidinone prodrug that is potential activity against a wide range of Gram-positive pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, penicillin-resistant streptococci, and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. The in vitro activity of tedizolid and other comparator agents against multidrug-resistant (MDR) pneumococci from various Asian countries were evaluated. Of the S. pneumoniae clinical pneumonia isolates collected during 2008 and 2009 from 8 Asian countries (Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka), 104 isolates of MDR pneumococci were included in this study. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for 18 antimicrobial agents was performed by broth microdilution method. Tedizolid was highly active against pneumococci. All isolates tested were inhibited at a tedizolid minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of ≤0.25μg/ml (ranged from ≤0.03μg/ml to 0.25μg/ml). The MIC50 and MIC90 of tedizolid against MDR pneumococci were both 0.12μg/ml, while MIC50 and MIC90 of linezolid were 0.5μg/ml and 1μg/ml, respectively. In addition, tedizolid maintained the activity against S. pneumoniae regardless of the extensively drug-resistant (XDR) phenotype of the isolates. The activity of tedizolid was excellent against all types of MDR pneumococci, exhibiting and maintaining at least 4-fold-greater potency compared to linezolid, regardless of resistance phenotypes to other commonly utilized agents. Tedizolid has the potential to be an agent to treat infections caused by MDR pneumococci in the Asia.
This study characterized carriage and clinical pneumococcal isolates for serotypes, penicillin susceptibility, virulence genes and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern of penicillin binding protein (PBP) genes. DNA fingerprint of isolates was generated by BOX-PCR. Majority of serotypes were 23F followed by 19F, 19A and 6A. Twenty-four percent of isolates were penicillin non-susceptible (PNSP). All of the targeted virulence genes were detected in all isolates with the exception of pili; 20.6% (n=22) for PI-1 and 14.0% (n=15) for PI-2. Of the 13 isolates which carried both PI-1 and PI-2, 10 were of clinical origin. Digested pbp-DNA produced three PBP-RFLP profiles for pbp1a (A1 to A3), six profiles for pbp2b (B1 to B6) and seven for pbp2x (X1 to X7) mostly in PNSPs. Based on BOX-PCR analysis, the majority of isolates were genetically diverse with a small number of potentially related isolates carrying pili genes. No obvious genotypic association was observed pertaining to carriage and clinical origin of isolates.