Clinical Medicine Reviews in Therapeutics

The use of fosfomycin has been limited in therapeutics in recent years. Because it has shown good antibacterial activity in vitro and clinical efficacy in some domains, it has been proposed as an alternative to current antimicrobial agents, which are subject to increasing resistance. This paper reviews the main properties of fosfomycin and the latest publications concerning multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections. In uncomplicated urinary tract infections, a single oral dose was found to be safe and effective. In complicated urinary tract infections, the same results were observed with several doses. In both cases, by using fosfomycin to treat infections, the use of carbapenems could be reduced, leading to lower costs and better microbial ecology. In severe infections, combinations with intravenous fosfomycin need to be explored further because its future activity may depend on choosing a good partner drug. Because of the fast evolution of microbial resistance, more studies are urgently needed.