An outbreak of Serratia marcescens septicemia in neonates.

Serratia marcescens is a well recognized nosocomial pathogen. We report an outbreak with this organism in 8 neonates in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Seven cases were treated successfully with meropenem after the failure of imipenem treatment. Although they have similar anti-microbial effects, meropenem can effectively treat the S. marcescens sepsis resistant to imipenem.