Cefotaxime treatment of gram-negative enteric meningitis in infants and children.

18 infants and children (1 week to 3 months of age) were treated with cefotaxime 200 mg/kg/day for Gram-negative enteric bacillary meningitis. 17 of these patients (94.4%) survived, with a complication rate of 23.5% (4/17 patients). The follow-up cerebrospinal fluid cultures at 24 hours were sterile in all patients. Cefotaxime was safe and effective in treating Gram-negative enteric bacillary meningitis in infants and children and should be considered as a potential drug of choice in Gram-negative neonatal meningitis due to susceptible organisms.