Cefotaxime

General

  • Type: Third generation cephalosporin
  • Dosage Forms: injectable solution, powder for injection
  • Dosage Strengths: injectable solution: 20, 40mg/mL; powder for injection: 500mg, 1g, 2g, 10g
  • Routes of Administration: IV, IM
  • Common Trade Names: Claforan

Adult Dosing

Pediatric Dosing

Special Populations

  • Pregnancy:
  • Lactation:
  • Renal Dosing
    • Adult
    • Pediatric
  • Hepatic Dosing
    • Adult
    • Pediatric

Contraindications

  • Allergy to class/drug

Adverse Reactions

Serious

Common

Pharmacology

  • Half-life: 1-2 hr
  • Metabolism: Partially metabolized in liver
  • Excretion: Urine
  • Mechanism of Action: Inhibits bacterial cell wall synthesis

Antibiotic Sensitivities[1]

Group Organism Sensitivity
Gram Positive Strep. Group A, B, C, G S
Strep. Pneumoniae S
Viridans strep S
Strep. anginosus gp X1
Enterococcus faecalis R
Enterococcus faecium X1
MSSA S
MRSA R
CA-MRSA R
Staph. Epidermidis I
C. jeikeium R
L. monocytogenes R
Gram Negatives N. gonorrhoeae I
N. meningitidis S
Moraxella catarrhalis S
H. influenzae S
E. coli S
Klebsiella sp S
E. coli/Klebsiella ESBL+ R
E coli/Klebsiella KPC+ R
Enterobacter sp, AmpC neg S
Enterobacter sp, AmpC pos R
Serratia sp S
Serratia marcescens X1
Salmonella sp S
Shigella sp S
Proteus mirabilis S
Proteus vulgaris S
Providencia sp. S
Morganella sp. S
Citrobacter freundii S
Citrobacter diversus S
Citrobacter sp. S
Aeromonas sp S
Acinetobacter sp. R
Pseudomonas aeruginosa R
Burkholderia cepacia I
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia R
Yersinia enterocolitica S
Francisella tularensis X1
Brucella sp. X1
Legionella sp. R
Pasteurella multocida S
Haemophilus ducreyi S
Vibrio vulnificus X1
Misc Chlamydophila sp X1
Mycoplasm pneumoniae X1
Rickettsia sp X1
Mycobacterium avium X1
Anaerobes Actinomyces X1
Bacteroides fragilis R
Prevotella melaninogenica S
Clostridium difficile R
Clostridium (not difficile) S
Fusobacterium necrophorum X1
Peptostreptococcus sp. S

Key

  • S susceptible/sensitive (usually)
  • I intermediate (variably susceptible/resistant)
  • R resistant (or not effective clinically)
  • S+ synergistic with cell wall antibiotics
  • U sensitive for UTI only (non systemic infection)
  • X1 no data
  • X2 active in vitro, but not used clinically
  • X3 active in vitro, but not clinically effective for Group A strep pharyngitis or infections due to E. faecalis
  • X4 active in vitro, but not clinically effective for strep pneumonia

See Also

References

  1. Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy 2014