Indications for outpatient treatment with parenteral antibiotics in children.
Serious infections in children can be treated using outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) which is cheaper and less disruptive than hospitalization. Responsible and well-informed parents are the key to success of OPAT in children, and medical centres should provide suitable follow-up procedures. Ceftriaxone is the key drug for various OPAT programmes due to its high therapeutic index, lack of toxicity, once-daily administration and good intramuscular bioavailablity. However, in some infections other drugs are needed. Such parenteral drugs can be used to stabilize the patient before switching to oral drugs.
Dagan
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Paediatric Infectious Disease Unit, The Soroka University Medical Centre and the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 151, Beer-Sheva 84101, Israel.