Fosfomycin: Flashback

In recent years, increasing numbers of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) bacterial infections, and the limited availability of antibiotics that can be used to treat these infections have become an important problem. The lack of the development of new antibiotics that may be effective in MDR and XDR bacteria have led to the return of old antibiotics such as fosfomycin. Discovered in 1969, fosfomycin is a broad spectrum antibiotic effective against Gram-negative and Gram-positive MDR and XDR bacteria. In this review, pharmacological properties, in vitro activity, resistance mechanisms, combinations with other antibiotics, clinical use and adverse effects of fosfomycin were reviewed.