Skip to main content
PMC home page
Archives of Disease in Childhood logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood
. 1983 Jul;58(7):529–531. doi: 10.1136/adc.58.7.529

Intravenous metronidazole in the newborn.

P Hall, C M Kaye, N McIntosh, J Steele
PMCID: PMC1628192  PMID: 6870333

Abstract

Twenty four neonates at high risk of anaerobic sepsis were treated with intravenous metronidazole, 7.5 mg/kg, 8 hourly, for a mean period of 5 days. The highest observed concentration after the first dose (mean +/- SD) 9.6 +/- 4.0 mg/l (56.1 +/- 23.4 mumol/l) was significantly lower (P less than 0.001) than the highest observed concentration after the final dose (mean +/- SD) 19.3 +/- 8.6 mg/l (112.7 +/- 50.2 mumol/l). The overall metronidazole half life was (mean +/- SD) 23.4 +/- 13.1 hours. The half life after the first dose (mean +/- SD) 21.9 +/- 10.1 hours was not appreciably different from the half life after the final dose (mean +/- SD) 21.6 +/- 12.4 hours. The concentrations of the major metabolite of metronidazole (20396RP) also rose appreciably during treatment. No side effects of metronidazole were noted and its extended half life in neonates suggests that less frequent dosage would be appropriate.

Full text

PDF
530

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bartlett J. G., Onderdonk A. B., Drude E., Goldstein C., Anderka M., Alpert S., McCormack W. M. Quantitative bacteriology of the vaginal flora. J Infect Dis. 1977 Aug;136(2):271–277. doi: 10.1093/infdis/136.2.271. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berman B. W., King F. H., Jr, Rubenstein D. S., Long S. S. Bacteroides fragilis meningitis in a neonate successfully treated with metronidazole. J Pediatr. 1978 Nov;93(5):793–795. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(78)81080-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brogden R. N., Heel R. C., Speight T. M., Avery G. S. Metronidazole in anaerobic infections: a review of its activity, pharmacokinetics and therapeutic use. Drugs. 1978 Nov;16(5):387–417. doi: 10.2165/00003495-197816050-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chow A. W., Leake R. D., Yamauchi T., Anthony B. F., Guze L. B. The significance of anaerobes in neonatal bacteremia: analysis of 23 cases and review of the literature. Pediatrics. 1974 Dec;54(6):736–745. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gorbach S. L., Mayhew J. W., Bartlett J. G., Thadepalli H., Onderdonk A. B. Rapid diagnosis of anaerobic infections by direct gas-liquid chromatography of clinical speciments. J Clin Invest. 1976 Feb;57(2):478–484. doi: 10.1172/JCI108300. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Harrod J. R., Stevens D. A. Anaerobic infections in the newborn infant. J Pediatr. 1974 Sep;85(3):399–402. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(74)80129-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Houghton G. W., Thorne P. S., Smith J., Templeton R., Collier J. Comparison of the pharmacokinetics of metronidazole in healthy female volunteers following either a single oral or intravenous dose. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1979 Oct;8(4):337–341. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1979.tb04715.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jager-Roman E., Doyle P. E., Baird-Lambert J., Cvejic M., Buchanan N. Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of metronidazole in the new born infant. J Pediatr. 1982 Apr;100(4):651–654. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(82)80779-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kaye C. M., Sankey M. G., Thomas L. A. A rapid and specific semi-micro method involving high-pressure liquid chromatography for the assay of metronidazole in plasma, saliva, serum, urine and whole blood. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1980 May;9(5):528–529. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1980.tb05856.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Pearson H. E., Anderson G. V. Perinatal deaths associated with bacteroides infections. Obstet Gynecol. 1967 Oct;30(4):486–492. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Pedersen P. V., Hansen F. H., Halveg A. B., Christiansen E. D. Necrotising enterocolitis of the newborn--is it gas-gangrene of the bowel? Lancet. 1976 Oct 2;2(7988):715–716. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(76)90009-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rom S., Flynn D., Noone P. Anaerobic infection in a neonate. Early detection by gas liquid chromatography and response to metronidazole. Arch Dis Child. 1977 Sep;52(9):740–741. doi: 10.1136/adc.52.9.740. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Welling P. G., Monro A. M. The pharmacokinetics of metronidazole and tinidazole in man. Arzneimittelforschung. 1972 Dec;22(12):2128–2132. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES