Cephalosporins in cutaneous infections. A prospective comparison of two dosage regimens of ceftazidime for therapy of skin and skin structure infections.

The safety and efficacy of ceftazidime administered as 0.5 g every 8 hours (q8h) or 1.0 g q8h for at least 5 days were compared in 197 patients and found to be effective in the treatment of cellulitis, abscesses, skin ulcers, and wound infections. Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant pathogen in both treatment groups with approximately half of the isolates from each treatment group being gram-positive. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common gram-negative isolate. P. aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, and Escherichia coli each comprised 5-12% of the isolates from each treatment group. Clinical cure or improvement was achieved in 98.7% of the patients in each treatment group. Concurrently with clinically successful treatment, a high rate of bacteriologic eradication without superinfection was achieved with the 0.5-g regimen (84% of all isolates) and the 1.0-g regimen (92%).