The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy
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J. Antimicrob. Chemother. · Oct 1998
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialRandomized comparative trial of cefpirome versus ceftazidime in the empirical treatment of suspected bacteraemia or sepsis. Multicentre Study Group.
Cefpirome is a fourth-generation cephalosporin with good in-vitro activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobes, including Pseudomonas spp. A multicentre, randomized trial was performed to compare cefpirome at a dose of 2 g bd iv with ceftazidime (2 g tds iv) in the empirical treatment of suspected bacteraemia in patients with severe sepsis but not septic shock. The majority of the patients had community-acquired infections. ⋯ More Gram-positive pathogens, enterococci and staphylococci were resistant in vitro to ceftazidime than to cefpirome (15/90 (17%) and 5/92 (5%) respectively; chi2 = 4.8, P < 0.05) but the bacteriological response was not significantly different between the two groups (cefpirome, 54/60 (90%); ceftazidime, 54/63 (86%)). Cefpirome showed equivalent efficacy and safety to ceftazidime in the empirical treatment of suspected bacteraemia or sepsis. Regarding safety, there were no statistically significant differences between the two treatments, with adverse events thought to be possibly related to the study drug occurring in 55/187 and 40/184 patients on cefpirome and ceftazidime, respectively.