Cefoxitin therapy of anaerobic and aerobic infections

Ccfoxitin is a cephamycin antibiotic which is resistant to fMactamase. It has good in vitro activity against aerobic and anaerobic bacteria including Bacteroides fragilis. This drug was studied in 37 serious episodes of infection in 36 patients; 21 patients had an anaerobic infection including 7 with B. fragilis. The most common sites were the skin, soft tissues and the intra-abdominal cavity. Twenty-three patients (66 %) had clinical and bacteriological cure, 2 patients improved, and 9 failed: 6 had failure to cure infection and 3 had adverse reactions. Two of the failures occurred in patients infected with Group A P-streptococci. Of the 21 anaerobic infections, 17 (81 %) had a favourable response, including 7 patients with B. fragilis infections (6 cured and 1 improved). Adverse side-effects were en-countered in 6 patients, usually consisting of phlebitis or mild allergic reactions. This study demonstrated that cefoxitin is efficacious and safe for the therapy of serious infections Involving aerobic and anaerobic bacteria