A total of 92 isolates of Mycobacteriurn tuberculosis consisting of equal numbers of
sensitive and resistant strains was tested for their susceptibility to sulbactam and
ampicillin (in the ratio of 1:2) on Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) and 7H11 agar media. The
geometric mean MIC was 63.97 μg/ml for the drug sensitive strains and 65.92 μg/ml
for the resistant strains, and the overall mean was 65.01 μg/ml. The high MIC on LJ
medium could be attributed to the higher protein content which resulted in greater
binding of sulbactam/ampicillin. On the other hand, the geometric mean MIC on
7H11 medium was 26.73 μg/ml for sensitive strains and 23.82 μg/ml for resistant
strains; the overall mean being 25.23 μg/ml. Although these MlCs of sulbactamampicillin
are higher than those reported earlier, they can be easily achieved in
serum. Further studies on experimental tuberculosis and in humans will be needed
to prove the efficacy of sulbactam/ampicillin in the treatment of patients with
multidrug resistant tuberculosis