Infections, with multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are a major concern in the pediatric intensive care unit, especially in immunocompromised patients. Some of these strains are resistant to all beta-lactams, including carbapenems, leaving very limited treatment options remaining. These options include aminoglycosides and colistin, both of which have poor pharmacokinetic profiles with significant toxicities. Newer beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations offer additional novel options to treat such infections, given their good pharmacokinetic profiles and activity against multi-drug resistant strains. Ceftolozane/tazobactam is a novel cephalosporin/beta-lactamase inhibitor combination approved in 2014. The drug demonstrates good activity against multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa strains, including those resistant to all other antibiotics. Ceftolozane/tazobactam is currently approved in adult patients 18 years and older only. There are very limited data on its pharmacokinetic profile and clinical utility in the pediatric population. We report the use of ceftolozane/tazobactam to successfully treat pneumonia caused by multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa in a pediatric patient with combined immunodeficiency syndrome.
Keywords: Pseudomonas; ceftolozane/tazobactam; immunodeficiency; pneumonia; resistance.