Therapeutic effects of cefotiam and cefazolin on experimental pneumonia caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae DT-S in mice.

The efficacies of several dosage schedules, productive of plasma levels of cefotiam and cefazolin of short and long duration and starting at three levels of cefotiam and cefazolin of short and long duration and starting at three different times (3, 18, and 30h) after infection, were examined in experimental pneumonia caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae DT-S in mice. With each of the multiday regimens there was a large segment of the day when plasma levels fell below assayable concentrations. In all cases, cefotiam proved about eight times as active as cefazolin, indicating that the potent in vitro antibacterial activity of cefotiam was well reflected in the therapeutic effect in this model infection. As judged by the total dose administered, the regimen of cefotiam producing a low but sustained plasma level gave better therapeutic effects than that exhibiting a high but transient plasma level. The cefotiam levels in the plasma of mice that received the regimen effective when initiated at 18 h after infection were less than the expected levels in humans after intravenous infusion of the usual clinical dose.