Ticarcillin-clavulanic acid therapy in severe infections.

Twenty patients with severe infections were treated with a fixed combination of ticarcillin + clavulanic acid. Nineteen of them had severe underlying diseases. Fifteen were bacteraemic; four of these were in shock. Eleven were infected with microorganisms resistant in vitro to ticarcillin. Eleven were clinically cured, 6 improved and 3 failed to respond, the latter being infected with ticarcillin-resistant microorganisms (2 E. coli, 1 P. mirabilis). Six patients experienced side-effects, which were usually mild and reversible, consisting mainly of moderate elevation of serum transaminases. In one patient ticarcillin-clavulanic acid was stopped due to worsening of a pre-existing drug hepatitis.