In vitro activities of Eravacycline against 336 isolates collected from 2012 to 2016 from 11 teaching hospitals in China

BACKGROUND: In China multidrug-resistant bacteria pose a considerable threat to public health. Antimicrobial resistance has weakened the effectiveness of many medicines widely used today. Thus, discovering new antibacterial drugs is paramount in the effort to treat emerging drug-resistant bacteria. METHODS: Eravacycline, tigecycline and other clinical routine antibiotics were tested by reference broth micro-dilution method against 336 different strains collected from 11 teaching hospitals in China between 2012 and 2016. These isolates included Enterobacteriaceae, non-fermentative, Staphylococcus spp., Enterococcus, and a number of fastidious organisms. The strains involved in this study possess the most important drug resistance characteristics currently known in China. Drug resistant bacteria such as those producing extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) and carbapenemases (KPC-2 and NDM-1), and those exhibiting colistin resistance (mcr-1) and tigecycline were included in this study. Additionally, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), β-lactamase positive Haemophilus influenzae, and penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (PRSP) were also included. RESULTS: Eravacycline exhibited good efficacy against all the strains tested, especially for organisms with ESBLs, carbapenemases, and mcr-1 gene compared with tigecycline and other antibiotics tested. The MIC values of eravacycline against carbapenemase producing Enterobacteriaceae and OXA-23-producing A. baumannii were much lower than the MIC values of other antibiotics. MRSA, VRE, β-lactamase positive Haemophilus influenza, and PRSP were sensitive to eravacycline in every strain tested. Furthermore, in most strains tested, the MICs of eravacycline were two to four-fold lower than the MICs of tigecycline. CONCLUSIONS: Eravacycline has shown potent antibacterial activity against common and clinically important antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The MIC distribution of eravacycline was generally lower than that of tigecycline which demonstrates that this new drug is potentially more effective than the existing medications. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-019-4093-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.