[Development of antibiotherapy and new trends].

During the last 10 years antimicrobials have been produced in almost limitless numbers by the pharmaceutical industry, and some have been marketed. The main objectives of these new drugs were to overcome the ever expanding problems of bacterial resistance and to fill the gaps in the spectra of previous agents. These objectives are progressively reached by new B-lactams, penems and fluoroquinolones, while new oral cephalosporins are becoming available to general practitioners. To overcome toxicity problems new concepts in antibiotic usage, such as intermittent aminoglycoside regimens, have been suggested. Research in antibiotics, the discovery of new compounds or the re-evaluation of older drugs constitute dynamic trends in antibiotic therapy.