[Rational parameters in the treatment of bacterial meningitis with modern cephalosporins]

Modern cephalosporins are by now well established therapeutic drugs in the treatment of bacterial meningitis. Particularly for gram-negative meningitis they are valuable therapeutic tools. In most cases, they are very efficient and less toxic than former therapeutic regimens. Of course, they cannot replace penicillin G in the therapy of meningitis with penicillin-sensitive bacteria. The advantages and disadvantages of the single compounds, cefotaxime, latamoxef, ceftizoxime, cefmenoxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone and cefsulodin have to be evaluated. For safety reasons, monotherapy with these drugs is not recommended because there have been reports of failures and relapses of meningitis even in cases with highly sensitive organisms. They are almost or completely ineffective against a few pathogens in meningitis, such as anaerobes or Listeria monocytogenes. An attempt has been made to evaluate the different compounds for their therapeutic usefulness against different pathogens in meningitis.