[Clinical and pharmacokinetic evaluations of aztreonam in children]

Aztreonam (AZT) was evaluated for its safety, clinical efficacy and pharmacokinetics in children. AZT was effective in all the 16 children with Gram-negative bacterial infections. The diagnoses included acute bronchitis and pneumonia (11), UTI (2), UTI with bacteremia (1), purulent meningitis (1) and acute mucositis (1). The etiologic agents were H. influenzae (10), B. catarrhalis (1), N. meningitidis group C (1), E. coli (3) and P. aeruginosa (2). The serum half-life was approximately 1.2 hours after intravenous bolus injection. Penetration into the inflamed cerebrospinal fluid was good not only in acute purulent meningitis but also in viral meningitis. From the present study, AZT is a safe and effective antibiotic when used in children with Gram-negative bacterial infections.