Introduction: The choice of empiric therapy of acute pyelonephritis (APN) in children should be based on the knowledge of Escherichia coli (E. coli) as the most common uropathogen and its antibiotic sensitivities considering that nowadays ESBL-producing [ESBL (+)] E. coli is on the rise worldwide.
Objective: To examine in vivo susceptibility of ESBL (+) E. coli to ceftriaxone (CTX), and to evaluate the options for empiric therapy for APN in children.
Methods: Retrospective study of CTX empiric therapy of APN in children treated at the University Children's Hospital in Belgrade from January 2005 to December 2009. ESBL phenotypic confirmatory test with ceftazidime, CTX and cefotaxime was performed for all urine isolates by disc diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar plates. In vivo sensitivity of CTX documented by clinical response to empiric CTX therapy was compared between two groups of children: group I with ESBL (+) E. coli and group II with ESBL (-) E. coli APN.
Results: Group I with ESBL (+) APN consisted of 94 patients and group II of 120 patients with ESBL (-) APN, respectively. All patients received CTX as empiric therapy at a mean dose of 66.9 mg during 7.2 +/- 2.6 days of therapy. Clinical effect of CTX was similar in patients with ESBL (+) compared to those with ESBL (-) APN.
Conclusions: In vitro resistance of ESBL E. coli to CTX determined by standard methods is not sufficiently predictive for its in vivo sensitivity. Therefore CTX may be used as empiric therapy for acute pyelonephritis in children.