Ceftazidime in the treatment of febrile immunosuppressed children.

We carried out a pilot study using ceftazidime alone in the treatment of febrile, neutropenic children. A total of 16 episodes were treated before the study was re-evaluated and tobramycin was added. Nineteen episodes have now been treated with a combination of ceftazidime and tobramycin. Of the first group, seven episodes failed to respond to ceftazidime; in five resistant or only partially sensitive organisms were thought to be the cause of failure. The most serious problem was our inability to predict two severe staphylococcal infections only partially sensitive to ceftazidime. These initial findings led us to add tobramycin to the regimen and to conclude that ceftazidime is not an appropriate antibiotic as a single agent in this group of patients.