Vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic gram-negative bacillus capable of causing severe to life-threatening infections in high-risk populations. Osteomyelitis caused by V. vulnificus is extremely rare, and a previously reported case had been associated with an adjacent soft-tissue infection. Herein we report the first case of vertebral osteomyelitis resulting from hematogenous spread of V. vulnificus gastroenteritis. The patient was successfully treated with a combination of cefotaxime and ciprofloxacin.
Bacillus ; Cefotaxime ; Ciprofloxacin ; Gastroenteritis* ; Humans ; Osteomyelitis* ; Spondylitis ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio*

BACKGROUND: In January 2008, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) published revised penicillin breakpoints for Streptococcus pneumoniae according to clinical presentation and the route of penicillin administration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of the new penicillin breakpoints on the susceptibility rates of S. pneumoniae isolated from blood. METHODS: A total of 156 non-duplicated S. pneumoniae strains recovered from blood of hospitalized patients were collected between January 2003 and December 2008. Penicillin and cefotaxime susceptibility tests were performed using an E-test (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden). Results of the penicillin susceptibility tests were analyzed using the former and new CLSI guidelines. RESULTS: Of the 156 S. pneumoniae strains isolated from blood, penicillin susceptibility under the former CLSI guidelines resulted in 42.3% susceptible, 42.3% intermediate, and 15.4% resistant states. According to the new CLSI guidelines (nonmeningitis, parenteral), 87.8% of isolates were susceptible, 9.6% were intermediate, and 2.6% were resistant to penicillin. CONCLUSION: When the new CLSI guidelines are applied, the penicillin susceptibility rate of S. pneumoniae strains isolated from blood is considerably increased. This suggests that penicillin should still be useful for the treatment of nonmeningeal pneumococcal infections and that the use of broad-spectrum antimicrobials should not replace this treatment.
Cefotaxime ; Humans ; Penicillins ; Pneumococcal Infections ; Pneumonia ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus pneumoniae

Spondylodiscitis is very rare complication caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae. Among those, few cases of spondylodiscitis concomitant with epidural abscess due to Klebsiella pneumoniae have been reported. We present a case of lumbar pyogenic spondylodiscitis with epidural abscess caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae that successfully treated with administration of cefotaxime, surgical drainage and intermittent closed continuous saline irrigation.
Cefotaxime ; Discitis ; Drainage ; Epidural Abscess ; Klebsiella ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Spondylitis

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of extended-spectrum -lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli has been increased in Korea, but the testing and reporting ESBL-mediated resistance remains unclear. We undertook a study to evaluate the method to screen isolates of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae and E. coli using cefpodoxime disk. METHODS: Fifty-eight strains of K. pneumoniae and 28 strains of E. coli were tested for production of ESBLs by the double disk synergy test. Susceptibility to cefpodoxime, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and aztreonam was determined by disk diffusion method. RESULTS: All strains that produced ESBLs were resistant to cefpodoxime, whereas those that not produced ESBLs were susceptible (97%) to this agents. The disk diffusion test exhibited 100% sensitivity and 97% specificity when NCCLS conventional interpretive criteria were used. All other oxyimino- -lactam agents tested were inferior discriminators between the two groups of organisms. When NCCLS ESBL interpretive criteria were used, the disk diffusion test using cefpodoxime exhibited 100% sensitivity and 83% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Routine disk diffusion susceptibility test with cefpodoxime disk (10g) can be used to detect strains of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae and E. coli without include supplemental testing for ESBL production.
Aztreonam ; Cefotaxime ; Ceftazidime ; Diffusion ; Escherichia coli* ; Escherichia* ; Klebsiella pneumoniae* ; Klebsiella* ; Korea ; Pneumonia ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity

The authors reported one case of agranulocytosis that occurred in the clozapine treatment in a 34-year-old male patient with chronic schizophrenia. Agranulocytosis, a WBC count of 2700 with 4% neutrophils, developed on Day 25 of clozapine treatment, when clozapine was stopped. On Day 26, he became febrile with temperature of 38 degrees C and he was treated with antibiotics, Claforan for 4 days, and received carefully daily blood monitoring and observation. Six days after stopping the administration of clozapine, his WBC exhibited the normal range with increasing numbers of neutrophils(WBC, 6000/mm3 ; neutrophils, 43%) and he began to improve clinically. Also, we described the recent review of incidence, the natural history and implicated possible mechanisms for clozapine-induced agranulocytosis.
Adult ; Agranulocytosis* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cefotaxime ; Clozapine ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Natural History ; Neutrophils ; Reference Values ; Schizophrenia

PURPOSE: Ascending cholangitis is the most common complication after Kasai operations. The aim of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of cefotaxime as an empirical antibiotic on ascending cholangitis after Kasai operations. METHODS: Thirty-nine episodes of cholangitis in twenty-nine children who underwent Kasai operations at Seoul National University Children's Hospital from January 1991 to December 2000 were included in this study. Empirical cefotaxime treatments were divided into three groups: cefotaxime and amikacin treatment group(CA group), cefotaxime and gentamicin treatment group(CG group) and cefotaxime treatment group(C group). A diagnosis of cholangitis was made on the basis of unexplained fever(>38degrees C) and either development of acholic stool or elevation of serum total bilirubin (>1.5 mg/dL). Therapeutic efficacy was judged by elimination of fever up to 72 hours, 120 hours, and 168 hours after antibiotic treatment. RESULTS: There were therapeutic responses in 51%(20/39) up to 72 hours after antibiotic treatment : 54%(13/24) in CA group, 43%(3/7) in CG group and 50%(4/8) in C group. There were therapeutic responses in 69%(27/39) up to 120 hours, in 79%(31/39) up to 168 hours and in 82%(32/ 39) up to 2 weeks. There were no differences in therapeutic efficacy among the three regimens. In 12 of 39 episodes, the etiologic pathogens including Escherichia coli and enterococcus were cultured from the blood. CONCLUSION: Cefotaxime can be tried as an initial antibiotic in Korean children with ascending cholangitis after Kasai operation prior to the identification of microorganism on culture. However, further evaluation of pathogen and its resistant strain to cefotaxime should be done.
Amikacin ; Biliary Atresia* ; Bilirubin ; Cefotaxime* ; Child ; Cholangitis* ; Diagnosis ; Enterococcus ; Escherichia coli ; Fever ; Gentamicins ; Humans ; Seoul

alpha-hemolytic streptococci (AHS) are common normal oropharyngeal flora that can transfer antibiotic-resistance genes to Streptococcus pneumoniae. Reports on antibiotic resistance in AHS from throats are rare in Korea. A total of 333 healthy school children were subjected to recovery of AHS from the throat, and antibiotic susceptibility tests were screened with the disk diffusion method. The rate of resistance to erythromycin was 22.2%, to clindamycin 12.0%, and to cefotaxime 3.0%. Whereas the resistance rate of S. pneumoniae to erythromycin exceeds 70% in Korea, pharyngeal AHS showed low resistance rates.
Cefotaxime ; Child ; Clindamycin ; Diffusion ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Erythromycin ; Humans ; Korea ; Pharynx ; Pneumonia ; Streptococcus pneumoniae

BACKGROUND: The MicroScan MICroSTREP plus panel for susceptibility testing of various streptococci, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, has recently been introduced in Korea. The current study evaluated the usefulness of MicroScan MICroSTREP plus panel for antimicrobial susceptibility test of S. pneumoniae. METHODS: A total of 75 clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to penicillin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, meropenem, vancomycin, clindamycin, erythromycin, and levofloxacin with the MicroScan MICroSTREP plus panel and clinical and laboratory standard institute (CLSI) reference broth microdilution method. For 46 of 75 isolates, additional susceptibility tests to penicillin and cefotaxime were performed with Etest. RESULTS: The overall essential agreement of MICs (within one dilution of MICs) defined by the MicroScan MICroSTREP plus panel and reference method was 93.0%. Overall there were 11.7% minor, 0.7% major, and 0.7% very major interpretative category errors observed. The results of antibiotic susceptibility testing by Etest were similar to those obtained by the MicroScan MICroSTREP plus panel. CONCLUSION: The MicroScan MICroSTREP plus panel, a commercial broth microdilution method, has a comparable accuracy to CLSI broth microdilution method for the resistance testing of S. pneumonia. This panel can be used for determining susceptibilities of S. pneumoniae to a wide variety of antimicrobial agents in clinical microbiology laboratories.
Anti-Infective Agents ; Cefotaxime ; Ceftriaxone ; Clindamycin ; Erythromycin ; Korea ; Ofloxacin ; Penicillins ; Pneumonia ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Thienamycins ; Vancomycin

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The standard regimen of SBP is cefotaxime 2 g IV, every 8 hours for 10 days, and the success rate is approximately 90%. It was reported that 5-day therapy was as effective as 10-day therapy, but, generally, the 5-day therapy has not been accepted in practice. This study was done to confirm whether the short-term therapy is as effective as long-term therapy, and additionally whether the opsonin capacity influences the final output of antibiotic therapy. METHODS: Of the 27 patients who met strict criteria for SBP or culture negative neutrocytic ascites, 14 were randomized to a group receiving 5 days and 13 to a group receiving 10 days of single agent cefotaxime 2g IV every 8 hours. Many variables (clinical data, standard liver and kidney function results, ascitic fluid data, complement proteins) were obtained at admission, the 2nd day, and the last day(the 5th or 10th day) of the study. RESULTS: Hospitalization mortality(7% vs 15%), recurrence rate(21% vs 0%), infection related mortality(7% vs 0%) and therapeutic response(86% vs 92%) were not significantly different between the 5- and 10-day treatment groups. The opsonic activity was not significantly different between the recurrence(n=3) group and non-recurrence group(n=26), but the indices of opsonic activity in recurrence group showed lower tendency than those in non-recurrence group. Early response rate was significantly different between the high and low protein concentration in ascitic fluid. CONCLUSIONS: Short course treatment of SBP is as effective as long-course therapy and significantly less expensive.
Ascites ; Ascitic Fluid ; Cefotaxime ; Complement System Proteins ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Kidney ; Liver ; Peritonitis* ; Recurrence

7-ACA(7-aminocephalosporanic acid) and ACT(aminocephalosporanic thiazine) are basic materials for development of 2nd and 3rd generation cephalosporin. Occupational asthmas(OA) induced by these materials have been very rarely reported. We had experienced 2 cases of OA by them. One was 26 year-old male laboratorian involving 7ACA manufacturing directly. The other case was 40 year-old male asthmatics working at the ware house keeping 7ACA and ACT, not directly making these. The result of skin prick test with 55 common inhalant allergens and 7ACA, ACT and several cephalosporins including Cefazolin, Cefuroxime, Ceftazidime, Cefotaxime, Ceftriaxone and Cefotetan. First case revealed positive reactions to 7ACA and Ceftriaxone, but second case, only positive to ACT. In first case, bronchial challenge with 7ACA only showed positive, but in second, those with 7ACA and ACT both showed positive, though negative to 7ACA in skin test.
Adult ; Allergens ; Asthma, Occupational* ; Cefazolin ; Cefotaxime ; Cefotetan ; Ceftazidime ; Ceftriaxone ; Cefuroxime ; Cephalosporins ; Humans ; Male ; Skin ; Skin Tests