Table 3.

Treatment recommendations for selected bacterial pneumonias

Pathogen	First‐line antimicrobial agent	Comment
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Piperacillin ± tazobactam Imipenem‐cilastatin Meropenem Ceftazidime Cefepime	Combination with aminoglycoside or ciprofloxacin may be considered depending upon local resistance patterns
Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp. or Serratia spp. with extended‐spectrum beta‐lactamase (ESBL) production	Imipenem‐cilastatin Meropenem Ertapenem	Ertapenem is not active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Multi‐resistant gram‐negative bacilli, such as Acinetobacter baumannii	Colistin Fosfomycin Tigecycline	Individual decision required
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia	High‐dose co‐trimoxazole	In‐vitro susceptibility testing may not reliably predict clinical efficacy (Carroll et al, 1998)
Staphylococcus aureus (oxacillin‐susceptible; MSSA)	Flucloxacillin Oxacillin	Vancomycin inferior (McDanel et al, 2015)
Staphylococcus aureus (oxacillin‐resistant; MRSA)	Vancomycin Teicoplanin Linezolid	Linezolid may cause thrombocytopenia

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