Evaluation of In Vitro Activity of Ceftaroline Tested against Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from United States Hospitals: Results from 7 Years of the AWARE Surveillance Program (2010–2016)

BACKGROUND: Ceftaroline (CPT) is a broad-spectrum cephalosporin with activity against S. pneumoniae (SPN), including multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. CPT fosamil is approved for clinical use in the United States (US) to treat community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP). The AWARE Program monitors the in vitro activity of CPT against clinical bacteria from various infection types. We evaluated the activity of CPT against isolated SPN clinical isolates from US hospitals collected in 2010 through 2016. METHODS: A total of 8,768 isolates were consecutively collected (1 per patient) from 47 medical centers in 2010–2016 and tested for susceptibility (S) to CPT and comparator agents using CLSI broth microdilution methods. Resistant subgroups included isolates that were nonsusceptible (NS) to penicillin (PCN), ceftriaxone (CRO), amoxicillin-clavulanate (AMC), erythromycin (ERY), clindamycin (CM), and levofloxacin (LEV) as well as MDR (NS to ≥3 classes of agents) and extensively drug resistant (XDR; NS to ≥5 classes). RESULTS: CPT inhibited 99.99% of SPN isolates at ≤0.5 mg/L (only 1 isolate had a CPT MIC of 1 mg/L) and remained active against all SPN-resistant (R) subgroups, including PCN-NS (8.7% at ≥4 mg/L), CRO-NS (6.9% at ≥2 mg/L), MDR (21.7%), and XDR (8.4%) strains. CPT activity remained stable against all R subgroups each year. MDR and XDR frequency decreased from 25.0% and 14.1% in 2011 to 17.8% and 3.2% in 2015, respectively; and S to PCN, CRO, AMC, CM, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMX), and tetracycline (TET) increased in the same period (Table). The CPT-NS isolate had multiple substitutions in the penicillin binding proteins (PBP), mainly PBP2x, when compared with reference sequences, and showed 31 amino acid alterations in MurM. For MDR isolates, CPT (99.9%S), tigecycline (99.9%S), linezolid (100.0%S), and vancomycin (100.0%S) were the most active agents. CONCLUSION: CPT demonstrated potent and consistent (2010–2016) activity against SPN, including several R phenotypes and the less S serotypes. SPN S to many antibiotics increased from 2011 to 2015, but remained stable in 2015–2016. Increases in S rates could be related to the anti-pneumococcal vaccine PVC-13 introduced in 2010. DISCLOSURES: M. A. Pfaller, Allergan: Research Contractor, Research grant; R. E. Mendes, Allergan: Research Contractor, Research grant; L. R. Duncan, Allergan: Research Contractor, Research grant; R. K. Flamm, Allergan: Research Contractor, Research grant; H. S. Sader, Allergan: Research Contractor, Research grant