Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is treated with which agent?

Prepare for the CAMLPR Microbiology Test. Utilize flashcards and engaging multiple-choice questions, each equipped with descriptions and explanations. Ready yourself for an excellent performance!

Multiple Choice

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is treated with which agent?

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia has a distinctive resistance pattern that makes many common antibiotics unreliable. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the standard first-line therapy because this organism usually remains susceptible to it and clinical outcomes are reliably better with this drug. In contrast, the organism is intrinsically resistant to most beta-lactams, including carbapenems, so those choices are not effective options. Levofloxacin can be used as an alternative in some cases when susceptibility testing shows activity, but it isn’t as consistently reliable as TMP-SMX. So the best answer is trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia has a distinctive resistance pattern that makes many common antibiotics unreliable. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the standard first-line therapy because this organism usually remains susceptible to it and clinical outcomes are reliably better with this drug. In contrast, the organism is intrinsically resistant to most beta-lactams, including carbapenems, so those choices are not effective options. Levofloxacin can be used as an alternative in some cases when susceptibility testing shows activity, but it isn’t as consistently reliable as TMP-SMX. So the best answer is trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

More practice questions