Pharmacokinetics and cerebrospinal fluid penetration of ceftazidime in children with meningitis.

The single dose pharmacokinetics and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) penetration of ceftazidime were determined in 10 children with bacterial meningitis. Serum ceftazidime pharmacokinetics showed a distinct age dependence in which the clearance in children less than 1 month of age was markedly reduced. Ceftazidime concentrations in CSF, which ranged from 1.4-8.5 micrograms/ml, exceeded the minimum bactericidal concentrations for infecting pathogens throughout the 8-hour sampling period. These concentrations were found to be independent of CSF cell count, protein concentration or the day of therapy on which the study was performed. The ratio of CSF to serum ceftazidime concentration increased with time, suggesting that ceftazidime was cleared more slowly from CSF than from peripheral blood. Our data support the initiation of a study comparing the efficacy of ceftazidime to conventional therapy in children with bacterial meningitis.