INDICES> Misuse of cefotaxime (2)

["Leo Offerhaus" <lo@euronet.nl>]

Indices: Cefotaxime (2)
Dear Mrs Khetsi,

You are rightly worried about the widespread misuse of 
cefotaxime. I can give you three references which are within your 
reach. i.e. (1) The Medical Letter Handbook of Antimicrobial 
Threrapy, rev.ed.2000; (2) Drugs of Choice, The Medical Letter, 
15th ed., 2003 and (3) the WHO Model Formulary, 1st ed., 2003.
The indications should be restricted to (a) Pneumococcal 
pneumonia caused by a resistant pneumococcus in an ICU and (b) 
meningitis (mainly H.influenzae in children). All other use 
encourages the development and spread of MRSA. For that the 
reason the whole group of these drugs features on the WHO 
Essential Drugs List as RESERVE antibiotics. We are now being 
faced by a MRSA strain which is even resistant to vancomycin 
and teicoplanin. Patients infected with such cocci have a mortality 
over 80%.

Best wishes,
Leo Offerhaus

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