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Review
. 2023 Jul 13;11(7):1798.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11071798.

Novel Beta Lactam Antibiotics for the Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Infections in Children: A Narrative Review

Francesco Venuti  1 , Lorenza Romani  2 , Maia De Luca  2 , Costanza Tripiciano  2 , Paolo Palma  3   4 , Maria Chiriaco  5 , Andrea Finocchi  4   5 , Laura Lancella  2
Affiliations
Review

Novel Beta Lactam Antibiotics for the Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Infections in Children: A Narrative Review

Francesco Venuti et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Infections due to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are increasingly prevalent in children and are associated with poor clinical outcomes, especially in critically ill patients. Novel beta lactam antibiotics, including ceftolozane-tazobactam, ceftazidime-avibactam, meropenem-vaborbactam, imipenem-cilastatin-relebactam, and cefiderocol, have been released in recent years to face the emerging challenge of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria. Nonetheless, several novel agents lack pediatric indications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicine Agency (EMA), leading to uncertain pediatric-specific treatment strategies and uncertain dosing regimens in the pediatric population. In this narrative review we have summarized the available clinical and pharmacological data, current limitations and future prospects of novel beta lactam antibiotics in the pediatric population.

Keywords: Gram-negative bacteria; cefiderocol; ceftazidime/avibactam; ceftolozane/tazobactam; children; imipenem/relebactam; infections; meropenem/vaborbactam; multidrug resistant; pediatric.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interest or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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