Treatment of lower respiratory tract infections with ceftazidime.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of ceftazidime in the treatment of patients with lower respiratory tract infection. Fifty patients were included. Most of the patients received 1.0 g ceftazidime im three times daily. Thirty-seven patients were cured and eight improved (90%). A pathogen was isolated in 19 cases, (sputum 14, blood 4 and pleural fluid 1). The micro-organism was eradicated from the sputum in all but two cases. The result was unassessable in one. One or more side-effects probably related to the drug were found in 15 patients (30%), pain at injection site (10), an allergic rash (2), diarrhoea (2), pyrexia (1) and dyspnoea (1). Abnormal laboratory tests were seen in seven patients, an elevation in liver enzymes (4), an elevation in urea (1), leucopenia and granulocytopenia (1) and haemolytic anaemia (1). Most of the side-effects were mild and transient but the drug was stopped in five cases. The diarrhoea was severe in one case and the granulocytopenia was noted at a check-up four months after the treatment.