title: [Pharmacokinetic and clinical studies on the use of ceftizoxime in premature and newborn infants. The Chemotherapy Research Group for Mother and Child].
abstract: A pharmacokinetic and clinical study of ceftizoxime (CZX), a newly developed cephem antibiotic intended for parenteral use, was conducted in premature and newborn infants, and resulted in the following findings. 1. Pharmacokinetics (1) Average serum half-lives (T 1/2) following a one shot intravenous dose of 20 mg/kg of CZX to mature and premature newborn infants in age groups of 0-3, 4-7, 8-14, and 15-30 days were: 4.14, 3.01, 2.57, and 1.98 hours (for mature infants) and 5.26, 4.59, 3.71, and 2.64 hours (for premature infants), respectively, decreasing with ages in days of the infants. (2) Average T 1/2's after a one shot 10 mg/kg dose was similar to that after a 20 mg/kg dose. Serum concentrations of CZX were dose-dependent. (3) T 1/2 after 1-hour intravenous drip infusion revealed a same trend after one shot injection. (4) Urinary in the first approximately 6 hours recoveries following a 20 mg/kg one shot dose to mature and premature newborn infants were as follows: 35% (0-3 days old) and 45-55% (4 days old and older) in mature infants and 30% (0-3 days old) and 45% (4 days old and older) in premature infants. 2. Therapeutic effectiveness (1) The subjects examined were 112 newborn infants consisting of 83 with infections and 29 who received CZX for prophylaxis. The 83 infants had 86 cases of infections, which were classified as A, when the causative organisms were identified and as B, when the causative organisms were not identified. Rates of therapeutic effectiveness were 95.0% for group A and 95.7% for group B. Bacteriological effectiveness were studied on 41 strains isolated from group A, and were as high as 89.5% for Gram-positive organisms and 95.5% for Gram-negative organisms. The rate of successful prophylaxis for the 29 infants was 96.6%. (2) Side effects did not occur among the 120 newborn infants. Laboratory tests with abnormalities included leukopenia, neutropenia, eosinophilia, thrombocytosis and increased GOT or GPT. These pharmacodynamic and clinical findings have fully substantiated the satisfactory therapeutic usefulness of CZX in both the treatment and prevention of neonatal infections in the usual dose of 20 mg/kg, which is to be given b.i.d. for infants up to 3 days old; b.i.d. or t.i.d. for infants 4 to 7 days old, and t.i.d. or q.i.d. for infants 8 days old and older. The drug can be given in a daily dose as high as 120 mg/kg when infection is severe.
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015296:Ceftizoxime / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000378:metabolism*; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000378:metabolism; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D015296:Ceftizoxime