cefotaxime and Bone-Diseases

In an open, randomised comparative study, 23 patients with bone, joint or soft tissue infections were treated with ampicillin 2g plus sulbactam 1g 3 times a day or cefotaxime 2g 3 times a day as an initial 2-week therapy. Monoinfections with Staphylococcus aureus were the most common bone or joint infections. Clinical cure or improvement 2 weeks after the end of therapy was observed in all 13 patients treated with sulbactam/ampicillin and in 7 of the 8 patients evaluated for efficacy after treatment with cefotaxime. Most organisms identified before the onset of therapy were susceptible to the antibiotic randomly selected for therapy, although the majority of infections due to beta-lactamase-producing staphylococci could not have been treated with ampicillin without sulbactam. Treatment failed to eradicate S. aureus in 1 patient from each group. In addition, S. aureus infection recurred in 2 patients in the cefotaxime group within 2 weeks after the end of therapy. No serious side effects were observed.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Ampicillin; Bacteria; Bacterial Infections; beta-Lactamases; Bone Diseases; Cefotaxime; Drug Combinations; Female; Humans; Joint Diseases; Male; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Middle Aged; Sulbactam

Ceftriaxone, a broad-spectrum cephalosporin with a markedly extended half-life, was administered to 100 patients with 56 bone and 44 soft tissue infections. Sixty-eight received 1 g twice daily, and 32 received 2 g once daily intravenously. Overall, 91% had a satisfactory clinical response, with similar efficacies in both treatment regimens. In six patients, failure to achieve a cure correlated well with the development of resistance to ceftriaxone during therapy in Enterobacter and Pseudomonas species (two cases) and with superinfection with Bacteroides fragilis (four cases). In 41 patients, intravenous drug therapy was continued after discharge from the hospital. In this group, 1,093 patient-days of hospitalization were saved, amounting to $150,020 in cost savings. The prolonged half-life facilitated the administration of ceftriaxone in this setting.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Bacterial Infections; Bone Diseases; Cefotaxime; Ceftriaxone; Child; Child, Preschool; Costs and Cost Analysis; Cross Infection; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Skin Diseases, Infectious

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Bacterial Infections; Bone Diseases; Cefotaxime; Cephalosporins; Female; Humans; Joint Diseases; Male; Middle Aged