Skip to main content
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy logoLink to Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
. 1980 Mar;17(3):397–401. doi: 10.1128/aac.17.3.397

Comparative in vitro activities of cefotaxime and ceftizoxime (FK749): new cephalosporins with exceptional potency.

D Greenwood, N Pearson, A Eley, F O'Grady
PMCID: PMC283798  PMID: 6252829

Abstract

Cefotaxime and its desacetoxymethyl derivative, ceftizoxime (previously known as FK749), are both extremely active against a wide spectrum of bacteria. In the present comparative study, the activity of ceftizoxime exceeded that of cefotaxime by a factor of four or more for strains of Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Providencia, Serratia, and Bacteroides; the only species for which the activity of cefotaxime exceeded that of ceftizoxime by a factor of four was Vibrio cholerae. Against other species, the activity of the two drugs was roughly comparable. Both showed outstanding activity against Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Comparative turbidimetric and morphological studies revealed that ceftizoxime was able to induce spheroplast formation and rapid lysis in Escherichia coli strains at lower concentrations than cefotaxime. This difference was not found, however, when E. coli strains resistant to ampicillin by an intrinsic (nonenzymic) mechanism were tested.

Full text

PDF
397

Selected References

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

  1. Drasar F. A., Farrell W., Howard A. J., Hince C., Leung T., Williams J. D. Activity of HR 756 against Haemophilus influenzae, Bacteroides fragilis and Gram-negative rods. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1978 Sep;4(5):445–450. doi: 10.1093/jac/4.5.445. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Greenwood D., O'Grady F. An in vitro model of the urinary bladder. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1978 Mar;4(2):113–120. doi: 10.1093/jac/4.2.113. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Greenwood D., O'Grady F. Comparison of the responses of Escherichia coli and proteus mirabilis to seven beta-lactam antibodies. J Infect Dis. 1973 Aug;128(2):211–222. doi: 10.1093/infdis/128.2.211. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Greenwood D., O'Grady F. Resistance categories of enterobacteria to beta-lactam antibiotics. J Infect Dis. 1975 Sep;132(3):233–240. doi: 10.1093/infdis/132.3.233. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hamilton-Miller J. M., Brumfitt W., Reynolds A. V. Cefotoxime (HR 756) a new cephalosporin with exceptional broad-spectrum activity in vitro. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1978 Sep;4(5):437–444. doi: 10.1093/jac/4.5.437. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Heymès R., Lutz A., Schrinner E. Experimental evaluation of HR756, a new cephalosporin derivative: pre-clinical study. Infection. 1977;5(4):259–260. doi: 10.1007/BF01640793. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mackintosh I. P., O'Grady F., Greenwood D., Watson B. W., Crichton T. C., Piper R., Ferrer A. A twelve channel bacterial growth monitoring system. Biomed Eng. 1973 Dec;8(12):514–passim. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES