What is the drug of choice for meningitis?
Penicillin is the drug of choice for the treatment of meningococcal meningitis and septicemia. Chemoprophylactic antimicrobials most commonly used to eradicate meningococci include rifampin, quinolones (eg, ciprofloxacin), ceftriaxone. Also included in this class are minocycline and spiramycin.
What is meant by empirical antibiotic treatment?

The term “empiric therapy” refers to antibiotics that are administered during the period prior to the receipt of blood culture and antibiotic susceptibility test results, whereas the term “definitive therapy” refers to the antibiotic therapy given subsequent to receipt of these results.
Which cephalosporin drugs used in meningitis?
Cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftizoxime and ceftazidime have all proved effective as therapy of meningitis in children and adults when the pathogens are pneumococci, H.
Which of the following antibiotics is most appropriate for empiric treatment of bacterial meningitis?
Cephalosporins. Third-generation cephalosporins (cefotaxime or ceftriaxone) are recommended for the treatment of childhood bacterial meningitis (A-I) and for pneumococcal and meningococcal meningitis caused by penicillin-resistant strains (A-III). They are the drugs of choice for empiric therapy in the treatment of H.

What is the best empiric antibiotic?
Ciprofloxacin is empirically selected as the initial antibiotic.
Which antibiotics are empirical?
Antibiotic therapies The most commonly used antibiotic for both empirical and adjusted therapy was amoxicillin/clavulanate (Table 2). Broad-spectrum antibiotics (cefepime, imipenem, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam) or vancomycin were initially administered to 95 patients (17.6%).
What is the first line treatment for meningitis?
Acute bacterial meningitis must be treated immediately with intravenous antibiotics and sometimes corticosteroids. This helps to ensure recovery and reduce the risk of complications, such as brain swelling and seizures. The antibiotic or combination of antibiotics depends on the type of bacteria causing the infection.
Does azithromycin treat meningitis?
Conclusion: Azithromycin is effective in the eradication of N. meningitidis from the nasopharynx of asymptomatic colonized individuals and deserves further evaluation for use as prophylaxis against N. meningitidis.
Why is vancomycin used in meningitis?
Because of a considerable increase in streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis with penicillin nonsusceptible strains, it is now largely recommended to add vancomycin to the third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic regimen.
How do I choose empiric antibiotics?
In selecting empiric antimicrobial therapy for such infections, clinicians should consider the following: (1) the site of infection and the organisms most likely to be colonizing that site (eg, intravascular catheter–associated bacteremia is frequently a result of colonization and infection caused by staphylococci …
What is empirical medicine?
Medical treatment that is given on the basis of the doctor’s observations and experience.
Does doxycycline treat meningitis?
Doxycycline has been proposed for decades for the prevention of bacterial meningococcal meningitis and is therefore known to be effective against Neisseria spp. However, the molecule is not usually tested in routine antibiograms, which in our case could have been helpful.
Why is ceftriaxone used in meningitis?
Ceftriaxone reaches a high bactericidal titer in the cerebrospinal fluid and persists at the site of infection longer than any other beta-lactam antibiotic.
Does cefepime cover meningitis?
Cefepime (Maxipime), a fourth-generation cephalosporin, has proved safe and effective in the treatment of infants and children with bacterial meningitis, and has been used successfully in patients with bacterial meningitis caused by Enterobacter species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (A-II).
Which is better cefotaxime or ceftriaxone?
The two treatment groups did not differ in types of infection, infecting organisms, and severity of underlying disease. The response rate was 81% (71/88) for ceftriaxone and 80% (66/83) for cefotaxime. The power of the study to detect a 15% difference in response rate at P less than . 1 was 90%.
Which is better cefuroxime or ceftriaxone?
We conclude that ceftriaxone is superior to cefuroxime for the treatment of acute bacterial meningitis in children and that the benefits of milder hearing impairment and more rapid sterilization of the cerebrospinal fluid with ceftriaxone outweigh the problem of reversible biliary pseudolithiasis with this drug.
Is ceftazidime better than ceftriaxone?
Compliance was good in both groups, particularly with the once daily administration of ceftriaxone. Overall ceftriaxone and ceftazidime appear to be equally effective in the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia, with the exception of P. aeruginosa infection.
Is cefuroxime good for meningitis?
Both ceftriaxone and cefuroxime have been repeatedly evaluated and found to be clinically useful as primary therapy for bacterial meningitis in children. Generally, these two cephalosporin compounds are considered to be equivalent agents for bacterial meningitis, although direct comparisons have been lacking.
What is the difference between cefixime and cefuroxime?
These results indicated the cefuroxime axetil taken twice daily is as effective as cefixime taken once daily in the treatment of acute bronchitis and that cefuroxime axetil produces fewer gastrointestinal adverse events, particularly diarrhea.
Is ceftazidime and cefuroxime same?
Cefuroxime was the most active agent against Bacteroides fragilis, whereas ceftazidime was inactive. Ceftazidime may, in the future, be a useful alternative to the aminoglycosides in the treatment of serious gram-negative infections, particularly when P. aeruginosa might be involved.