Effect of clavulanic acid on the susceptibility of clinical anaerobic bacteria to ticarcillin: a multicenter study.

Over 2,000 recent clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria were tested at five medical centers for susceptibility to ticarcillin, ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid, clindamycin, and metronidazole. At 64 micrograms/ml, ticarcillin inhibited 92% of all isolates, but 98% were inhibited at this concentration when 2 micrograms/ml of clavulanic acid was added. With different Bacteroides species, clavulanic acid reduced ticarcillin MICs 2- to 32-fold; other anaerobic species were not significantly affected.