Clinical studies on cefdinir in pediatric infections

Pharmacokinetic, bacteriological and clinical studies on cefdinir (CFDN), a newly developed oral cephalosporin, were performed on children with infections. The pharmacokinetics was examined in 3 patients. The peak plasma concentrations were 1.97 micrograms/ml, 0.84 microgram/ml and 1.67 micrograms/ml in the 3 patients. The 0 to 6 or 8-hour urinary excretion rates were 22.2%, 18.1%, and 32.7%, respectively. These results were similar to those in adult patients. Clinical response to CFDN was evaluated in 21 patients, 4 patients with pharyngitis (an efficacy rate of 100%), 7 with tonsillitis (85.7%), 1 with bronchitis (excellent), 1 with pneumonia (fair), 6 with scarlet fever (100%), 1 with staphylococcal scaled skin syndrome (good) and 1 with urinary tract infection (good). Thus, an overall efficacy rate of 90.5% was achieved. With regard to microbiological effect on pathogens, 14 of the 15 strains identified as pathogens were eradicated, with an eradication rate of 93.3%. The safety was evaluated in a total of 23 cases. Diarrhea, elevated eosinophil count and elevated S-GPT were observed in one patient each. The side effect and abnormalities in laboratory tests were not serious, however. It was concluded that CFDN, with its excellent antibacterial effect, was an efficacious and safe drug for the treatment of pediatric infections.