[Indications for piperacillin in pediatrics].

The clinical activity of piperacillin was evaluated in 34 children (mean age: 8 years) presenting with severe infection (septicaemia, meningitis, bronchopneumonia, pyelonephritis). A bacteriological diagnosis was established in 24 cases. The mean duration of treatment was 11 days, and the mean dose 220 mg/kg/day administered in three injections. In 25 cases piperacillin was combined with another antibiotic, usually an aminoglycoside (20 cases). Clinical cure or improvement was obtained in 29 children (85%). Treatment was well tolerated, with only 2 cases of moderate blood eosinophilia. In view of these results the authors suggest that piperacillin could be used in children in two circumstances: severe infections caused by Gram-negative cocci or bacilli in children with cystic fibrosis or neutropenia, and against infections contracted in intensive care units, or in children with febrile leucopenia, combined with an aminoglycoside in the absence of, or pending bacteriological results.