Role of long-acting cephalosporins in ambulatory therapy.

Selected patients with community-acquired infections can be discharged from the hospital, when afebrile and stable, with parenteral antibiotic therapy continued on an ambulatory basis. This therapy is currently possible because of the availability of long-acting cephalosporins that can be administered once daily, often with substantial reductions in hospital costs. Cefonicid and ceftriaxone both have sufficiently long half-lives and either may be administered intramuscularly once daily. Their antibacterial spectra encompass many of the pathogens encountered in community-acquired infections of the lower respiratory tract, skin and soft tissue, bone, and urinary tract. Ceftriaxone, a third-generation cephalosporin, has a broader spectrum than the second-generation agent cefonicid. Ceftriaxone should generally be reserved for the treatment of gonococcal disease and of community- or hospital-acquired infections due to organisms resistant to the narrower-spectrum and less expensive long half-life agent cefonicid.