The use of new antibiotic agents for chronic pulmonary disease.

Modern advances in the development of antimicrobial agents and in chemotherapy have made available potent aminoglycoside antibiotics, with more effective ones to come. Their effectiveness against P. aeruginosa is a great contribution to patients with cystic fibrosis and other chronic disorders. The development of carbenicillin has augmented the effectiveness of the aminoglycoside antibiotics. Ticarcillin is similar to carbenicillin and will play a similar role in antibiotic therapy. The cephalosporins serve as alternative agents principally for their antistaphylococcal activity. We are urgently in need of a potent antibiotic agent against P. aeruginosa that can be given by the oral route. The TMP-SMX combination is a potent chemotherapeutic agent that can be administered by the oral route. It is effective in the treatment of P. carinii pneumonia, which is very common owing to the extended survival of patients with leukemia and other malignancies or with allografts who are prone to develop infections with immunosuppressive therapy.