[A study of the transplacental passage of cefotaxime (author's transl)].

The authors have studied the transplacental transfer of cefotaxime in 19 women at the end of pregnancy, after injection of 1 g i.m. Amniotic fluid and cord blood samples were collected during cesarean section. The diffusion of the drug was rapid in cord blood and the concentrations were parallel to those measured in maternal blood; they decreased from 3.8 to 2.1 micrograms/ml between the first and the fourth hour following the injection. In amniotic fluid, diffusion was delayed; the peak reached 3.6 micrograms/ml at the third hour and a the fourth hour, the concentrations were still measurable (2.3 micrograms/ml). On the whole, cefotaxime concentrations measured in cord blood and amniotic fluid were superior to the MIC's of bacteria usually responsible for obstetrical infections; they may be efficient against most beta-lactamase producing enterobacteriaceae.