Bacteriological and clinical studies on cefepime

Bacteriological and clinical studies with cefepime (CFPM), a new parenteral cephalosporin antibiotic were performed, yielding the following results. 1. Antimicrobial activity The MICs of CFPM against various clinical isolates were determined with an inoculum size of 10⁶ cells/ml. The MIC₈₀ was 3.13 μ/ml for Staphylococcus aureus, 25 for Enterococcus faecalis, 0.05 for Escherichia coli, 0.20 for Klebsiella pneumoniae, 0.39 for Enterobacter spp. and Serratia marcescens, 0. 10 for Proteus spp., 0.78 for Citrobacter freundii, 6.25 for Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and 12.5 for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Its activity against Gram-positive cocci was less than cefuzonam and cefmenoxime, but against Gram-negative rods, it was more active than ceftazidime, cefotaxime, cefmenoxime and cefuzonam. 2. Clinical efficacy One patient with pneumonia, 2 with purulent meningitis, 1 with sepsis, 1 with perianal abscess and 1 with ankylosing spondylitis were treated with CFPM at a daily dose of 2.0~4.0g for 3-17 days. Clinical response was excellent in 1, good in 1, fair in 1, poor in 2 and unknown in 1 patient. S. aureus, E. faecalis, Streptococcus milleri, Streptococcus mitis were eradicated by CFPM. No adverse reactions and no abnormal changes of laboratory investigations were observed.