The place of cephalosporins in antibacterial treatment of infectious diseases

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Abstract
Although cephalosporins have become the most widely used parenteral antibiotics worldwide, they are often thought of as agents in search of diseases to treat. The cephalosporins, discovered after the penicillins, have rarely been assigned the role of drug of choice in the treatment of common infections. Cephalosporins now available are effective treatment of streptococcal, pneumococcal, staphylococcal, Klebsiella, Escherichia coli and Proteus infections, whether they be pulmonary, urinary, surgical, bone or orthopaedic. The available cephalosporins have not been useful in central nervous system infections. A major role of the cephalosporins has been as chemopro-phylactic agents at the time of surgical procedures. The new cephalosporins in view of their increased antibacterial activity retain the excellent pharmacokinetic properties and low toxic potential of the older cephalosporins and seem to make the cephalosporins drugs of first choice in many infections.

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