title: Selecting therapy for serious infections in children: maximizing safety and efficacy.
abstract: Serious infections in children represent unique challenges for the treating physician. For the pediatric patient, considerations of drug toxicity are especially critical to avoid potential long-term complications of therapy. There are several advantages associated with using single, broad-spectrum, empiric antibiotic therapy, including reduced potential for drug-mediated toxicity or drug interactions and facilitation of home therapy. Of the antibiotics available for monotherapy, the carbapenems have the broadest spectrum of activity. However, a major obstacle toward the use of the carbapenems in pediatrics has been the risk of seizures occurring during therapy with imipenem/cilastatin. In clinical studies of meningitis and other infections in children, no drug-related seizures were reported when treated with the carbapenem meropenem. Meropenem monotherapy has been shown to be similar to ceftriaxone- and cefotaxime-based single or multiple antibiotic regimens, in terms of clinical and microbiologic efficacy and tolerability. Thus, meropenem represents a favorable treatment choice for the seriously ill child, either as empiric monotherapy or as definitive therapy of polymicrobial or nosocomial infections.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital and Health Center, University of California, San Diego 92123-4282, USA.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bradley
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D016638:Critical Illness; D005674:Fusobacterium Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005675:Fusobacterium necrophorum; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000077731:Meropenem; D013845:Thienamycins / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D013845:Thienamycins; D000077731:Meropenem