Cefonicid versus cefuroxime: an in vitro study of 1,000 Enterobacteriaceae

Cefuroxime and cefonicid, two common representatives of the second-generation cephalosporins, were compared for their spectrum of activity against 1,000 isolates of gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae. Cefuroxime had an overall advantage of 6.3% over cefonicid. Upon investigation, we found that this was mainly due to Escherichia coli: 11.2% of the E. coli strains proved resistant to cefonicid whilst only 0.4% were cefuroxime resistant.