A comparison of the in vitro activity of a new cephalosporin, cefuroxime, and cephalothin against 810 clinical isolates.

810 strains of eight species: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp, Enterobacter sp, Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris, were tested by the disc diffusion method against cephalothin and cefuroxime. The activity of the two drugs was comparable to S aureus and S epidermidis, and a little in favour of cefuroxime regarding S faecalis. Cefuroxime turned out to be superior to cephalothin against the gram negative rods investigated. This pattern was most pronounced when Enterobacter was investigated.