Sulbactam/ampicillin versus cefotaxime as initial therapy in serious soft tissue, joint and bone infections.

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.