[Cefotaxime in digestive tract infections (author's transl)]

Cefotaxime was administered alone to 25 patients, with serious infectious diseases secondary to a gastrointestinal lesion. The largest group consisted of pancreatic and biliary infections, or infectious complication in cirrhotic patients. The daily dose was 2 or 3 g, sometime 4 g of cefotaxime. In the 15 cases where the infecting organisms could be identified: E. coli: 6, Staphylococcus aureus: 4, Klebsiella: 2, Haemophilus: 1, Proteus: 1 and Pseudomonas: 1, the pathogen was eradicated bacteriologically within two to six days after the onset of therapy. The infection was controlled in all 25 cases within 2 to 8 days even though, in 11 cases, previous antibiotic therapy had been insufficient, no complementary antibiotic treatment was associated and 8 of the cases with very severe infection were a serious problem to the intensive care unit. The use of cefotaxime is justified in the treatment of gastrointestinal infection even though pathogens are identified with difficulty in these diseases.