Staphylococcal resistance and oral cephalosporins for skin and skin structure infections.

The common classification of cephalosporins into "generations," based on their activity toward gram-positive and gram-negative organisms, does not adequately reflect the differences among these drugs, especially for newer, broad-spectrum antibiotics. Thus, clinicians need to understand the complete spectrums of activity for these drugs to treat patients effectively and minimize the development of drug resistance.