Treatment of Bacterial Endocarditis with Cephalosporin Derivatives in Penicillin-Allergic Patients

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Abstract
BACTERIAL endocarditis was almost universally fatal before the advent of antibiotics.1 , 2 The poor prognosis radically improved in the 1940's with the availability of penicillin.3 To date, penicillin remains the single most effective antibiotic agent for the treatment of endocarditis due to gram-positive cocci.4 Unfortunately, approximately 2 per cent of the general population are allergic to penicillin.5 Furthermore, an estimated 18 per cent of adults with rheumatic or congenital heart lesions susceptible to endocarditis who have received regular prophylactic courses of penicillin may be allergic to the antibiotic.6 In the past, 3 principal methods of therapy were available to patients allergic . . .

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