title: Cephalosporins: rationale for clinical use.
abstract: Cephalosporins, the most widely used class of antibiotics, are more resistant than penicillins to inactivation by beta-lactamases. Based on their spectrum of activity against gram-negative bacteria, cephalosporins are classified into three generations. The generation classification, however, does not correlate with activity against gram-positive bacteria or anaerobes. First-generation cephalosporins have a narrow gram-negative spectrum but are most active against gram-positive bacteria, particularly Staphylococcus aureus. Third-generation compounds have excellent activity against gram-negative bacteria. The cephamycins, a second-generation subgroup that includes cefoxitin, cefotetan and cefmetazole, have the best activity against anaerobes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Disease, Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molavi
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D002511:Cephalosporins