[Transfer of resistance to new cephalosporins and carbapenems (Imipenem)].

Due to world-wide use of 3rd generation cephalosporins and new beta-lactam antibiotics (imipenem, aztreonam), serious problems emerge caused by the appearance and spread of bacterial strains resistant also to these drugs. While the resistance to ceftazidime, cefotaxime and other "stable" cephalosporins has a transferable character and is plasmid-coded, the resistance to imipenem is transmissible only by bacteriophages. New enzymes in resistant bacteria bind specifically with the metoxyimino moiety of the molecule of these drugs. It is assumed that cephalosporins without the metoxyimino-group (4th generation) and new variants of imipenem (1-methyl-carbapenems, like meropenem and biapenem) will dominate therapy with betalactam antibiotics in the future.