Cefoxitin: Its Role in Treatment and Prophylaxis of Obstetric and Gynecologic Infections

Cefoxitin has become one of the most used parenteral antibiotics in the United States, perhaps because of a broad spectrum of activity, including activity against Bacteroides fragilis, which makes the drug suitable for prevention and treatment of intraabdominal and pelvic infections. This review foc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reviews of infectious diseases 1988-01, Vol.10 (1), p.76-91
Main Author: COUNTS, G. W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abscesses
Anaerobic bacteria
Antibacterial agents
Antibiotics
Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents
Bacterial Infections - drug therapy
Bacterial Infections - prevention & control
Biological and medical sciences
Cefoxitin - pharmacokinetics
Cefoxitin - pharmacology
Cefoxitin - therapeutic use
Cephalosporins
Cesarean Section
Dosage
Female
Genital Diseases, Female - drug therapy
Genital Diseases, Female - prevention & control
Gonorrhea - drug therapy
Humans
Hysterectomy
Infections
Medical sciences
Pelvic infections
Pelvic inflammatory disease
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease - drug therapy
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Placebos
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - drug therapy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - prevention & control
Premedication
Review Articles
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Summary:Cefoxitin has become one of the most used parenteral antibiotics in the United States, perhaps because of a broad spectrum of activity, including activity against Bacteroides fragilis, which makes the drug suitable for prevention and treatment of intraabdominal and pelvic infections. This review focuses on the use of cefoxitin in obstetric and gynecologic infections, with comparisons to older and newer antibiotics. Numerous studies have shown that cefoxitin is clearly effective; in most of these studies, however, either the initial infection rates were low or the sample sizes were small-circumstances making it difficult to establish the superiority of any one agent. Thus, the necessity of using a drug with activity against B. fragilis for prevention and treatment of pelvic infections has not been proven. Several antibiotics without such activity have been equally effective. Cefoxitin may be of particular value when combined with surgical drainage of pelvic abscesses, infections in which control of B. fragilis may be especially important to outcome.
ISSN:0162-0886