[Treatment of septicemia and endocarditis with pefloxacine. 15 cases].

The therapeutic effectiveness of pefloxacin was evaluated in 15 patients admitted to an intensive care unit and suffering from septicaemia or endocarditis. Seven of these patients had a focal infection (acute anterior mediastinitis or epiduritis). Pefloxacin was combined with an aminoglycoside in 13 cases and with rifampicin in 1 case. Blood cultures became or remained negative in all patients. The associated focus of infection was sterilized in 5 patients; a pefloxacin-resistant pathogen was subsequently isolated in 2 other patients. Three patients died some time after the infectious episode. The minimum inhibitory concentration of pefloxacin ranged from 0.25 to 2 mg/l. The bactericidal activity of the serum at peak concentration was greater than or equal to 1/8 in all cases and greater than or equal to 1/32 in 10 cases. No resistant mutants were selected during treatment. However, 8 strains of a species different from that of the initial pathogen were isolated from a site other than the primary focus. Pefloxacin can therefore be used successfully in the treatment of systemic infections, but close monitoring of bacterial ecology is required.