Susceptibility of 126 isolates of Escherichia coli from the cerebrospinal fluid of neonates to five antibiotics.

One hundred and twenty-six clinical isolates of Escherichia coli from the CSF of neonates, obtained in the Netherlands during 1976 to 1982, were tested for sensitivity to five antibiotics. The usefulness of the generally recommended initial therapy, a combination of ampicillin and gentamicin, is supported in the majority of cases. On the basis of the in-vitro results, cefotaxime would have been effective as a therapy for all cases. Ampicillin and cefuroxime resistance occurred mostly in neonates who had received antibiotics prophylactically, neonates whose mothers had fever during labour or in neonates who had been nursed in incubators for more than one week.