The incidence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in Europe has increased markedly since 2000. Previous meta-analyses have suggested a strong association between cephalosporin use and CDI, and many national programmes on CDI control have focused on reducing cephalosporin usage. Despite reductions in cephalosporin use, however, rates of CDI have continued to rise. This review examines the p...

To the Editor: Salmonella Enteritidis, a predominantly localized pathogen of the human gastrointestinal tract, can become invasive in very young, very old, malnourished, and immunocompromised patients. In recent years, S. Enteritidis has emerged as a major intestinal pathogen in Trinidad and Tobago (population 1.2 million); in 1997, S. Enteritidis caused 79 (66%) of 119 culture-confirmed salmon...

Ceftriaxone is a widely used third-generation cephalosporin showing advantageous pharmacokinetic properties and a broad antimicrobial spectrum. We herein report a case of ceftriaxone-induced neurotoxicity in a 56-year-old man on hemodialysis. Seven days after initiating high-dose ceftriaxone, the patient developed impaired consciousness along with facial myoclonus and sporadic phonation. The sy...

Figure 1. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens causing nosocomial infections in intensive care units [1]. Left, Drugs and the organisms resistant to them. Shaded bars denote the percentage of resistant isolates ( SD) during 1998–2002. Bullet points denote the percentage of resistant isolates during 2003 only. Right, No. of resistant isolates during 2003 and increase in the percentage of resistant ...

A worker employed in the manufacture of the new third generation cephalosporin antibiotic, ceftazidime, developed asthmatic symptoms, and a series of inhalation challenge tests was undertaken to investigate the problem. The inhalation of increasing daily doses of ceftazidime up to 3.2 mg, using a double-blind challenge protocol gave rise to symptoms, late asthmatic reactions, and increases in a...

Ceftriaxone is a new, third-generation cephalosporin that, because of its long half-life, offers potential advantages of cost and convenience over similar agents such as cefotaxime. We compared the two drugs in a prospective, randomized study of the treatment of chest infections in seriously ill patients. Fifty-one patients (90 percent of whom were mechanically ventilated) received either ceftr...

This paper presents a Bayesian analysis of a time series of counts to assess its dependence on an explanatory variable. The time series represented is the incidence of the infectious disease ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in an Australian hospital and the explanatory variable is the number of grams of antibiotic (third generation) cephalosporin used during that time. We demonstrate that t...