[The use of cefotaxime against infections (author's transl)].

Cefotaxime was administered as sole treatment (49 cases) or after failure of another previous antibiotic (17 cases) to 66 patients suffering from infectious diseases. The 78 infections thus treated included urinary tract infections (35), septicaemia or endocarditis (25), respiratory tract infections (7), osteitis (5), meningitis (4), biliary infection (1), and skin infection (1). The pathogens identified were more often enterobacteria: Serratia: 23, E. coli: 15, Klebsiella: 7, Proteus: 7, Enterobacter: 1, Providentia: 1, Pseudomonas: 5, Staphylococcus: 7, Pneumococcus: 4, Streptococcus: 2, Branhamella: 1. Cefotaxime was given either intravenously (2/3 of cases) or intramuscularly, at an average daily dose of 3.75 g (mean: 1.5-8 g). It was administered alone to 49 patients suffering from septicaemia and urinary tract infections caused by E. coli, Klebsiella and especially Serratia, and it was combined in 17 cases, particularly in meningitis and bone infections. The overall results of cefotaxime given in serious diseases were especially favourable in debilitated patients (88% therapeutic success). The local tolerance was good and side effects were not observed in any patient. Cefotaxime seems to be an active antibiotic, indicated in many severe septicemic or not septicemic infections, more particularly in diseases with multiresistant Gram negative pathogens.