Use of ceftazidime in febrile incidents in immunocompromised haematological patients.

Ceftazidime was used in twenty-eight febrile episodes recorded in twenty-two neutropenic patients (eleven of each sex, aged between 15 and 73 years) who were immunologically compromised (nineteen acute leukaemias and three malignant lymphomas treated with cytostatics). Seven pathogens were isolated in six patients (four klebsiella, one proteus, one Escherichia coli and one enterobacter). The clinical response was cure in ten cases, improvement in six, failure in four and unassessable in eight. In this study ceftazidime was as effective as the combinations of antibiotics generally used in these cases and free of adverse events.