INVITRO AND INVIVO EFFECTS OF SUBINHIBITORY CONCENTRATIONS OF CLINDAMYCIN ON EXPERIMENTAL KLEBSIELLA-PNEUMONIAE SEPSIS

We studied the effect of subinhibitory doses of clindamycin on the course of experimentalKlebsiella pneumoniae sepsis. Wistar rats were injected intraperitoneally with an inoculum containing 5 x 106 colony-forming units of K. pneumoniae resistant to clindamycin (minimum inhibitory concentration > 128 µml) and then distributed to receive clindamycin 10 mg/kg/day or placebo for 10 days. All animals were bacteremic at 3h. When the magnitude of bacteremia was compared, no difference was seen during the first 24h; however, by 72 h the clindamycin-treated group had a significant decrease in the number of colony-forming units per milliliter blood (p < 0.01). The mortality rate showed a tendency to decrease in the treated group (0%) as compared with the control group (30%). By 120 h, 3 of the 9 (33%) surviving animals from the control group were still bacteremic versus0 of 11 (0%) in the clindamycin-treated group. These results suggest that subinhibitory clindamycin therapy can improve bacterial clearence and survival during the course of experimental K. pneumoniae sepsis. © 1990 S. Karger AG, Basel.