Ceftazidim

• 3 times/day 1 g or 2 times/day 2 g i.v. (max. 2-3 times/day 3 g).
• Children: 25-50 mg/kg bw/day

Remember! In patients > 75 years of age only in case of very severe infections daily doses > 3 g/day!

Anaphylaxis due to cephlosporins:

In a larger study, 6.8 anaphylactic reactions per 100 000 intravenous exposures were demonstrated. The incidence of fatal anaphylaxis from cephalosporin was 0.1 cases per 100 000 exposures (Kang DY, MS et al. 2018).

The following incidences were found for each cephalosporin:

• Ceftizoxime: 13.0 anaphylaxis per 100 000 exposures).
• Cefepime, cefotaxime, ceftizoxime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime: 9.3 anaphylaxis per 100 000 exposures
• Cefoxitin, cefmetazole, cefminox, and cefotiam: no anaphylactic reactions.

Neurologic UAWs(rare):

A major review (Lacroix L et al (2019) analyzed 511 reports of serious neurologic UAWs between 1987 and 2017. Patients had a mean age of 67.1 years (m:w= 1:1) with a mean creatinine clearance of 32.9 ml / min.These were observed with the following mostly parenterally administered (87.3%) cefalosporins:

• Cefepime (33.1%)
• ceftriaxone (29.7%)
• ceftazidime (19.6%)
• cefotaxime (9%)
• cefazolin (2.9%)

The following neurological UAWs were diagnosed: encephalopathy (30.3%),confusional state (19.4%), convulsions (15.1%), myoclonia (9.4%), status epilepticus (9.2%), coma (6.3%), hallucination (4.3%).

Fortum®

1. Kang DY, MS et al (2018) Incidence of cephalosporin-induced anaphylaxis and clinical efficacy of screening intradermal tests with cephalosporins: A large multicenter retrospective cohort study. Allergy 73:1833-1841.

2. Lacroix L et al (2019) Serious central nervous system side effects of cephalosporins: A national analysis of serious reports registered in the French Pharmacovigilance Databas. J Neurol Sci 398:196-201