Clinical and pharmacokinetic evaluation of meropenem and its effect on fecal flora in children

: Forty-five children were treated with meropenem (MEPM) and the clinical efficacy and side effects were evaluated. The ages of the patients ranged from 1 month to 9 years and their body weights from 5.2 to 25 kg. Doses given were 17.2-45.5 mg/kg every 6 to 8 hours for 2 to 24.5 days. Those patients who responded to the MEPM treatment included 15 children with pneumonia, 7 with pharyngitis, 3 with cervical lymphadenitis, 3 with cellulitis, 10 with urinary tract infections and 4 with other infections. Among 42 children, the results were excellent in 29, good in 12 and fair in 1. The drug was well tolerated, although slightly elevated serum concentrations of transaminases occurred in 5 patients, eosinophilia in 2 patients, and neutropenia in 1 patient among 45 patients examined. The pharmacokinetic studies on MEPM were done in 6 patients. Their ages ranged from 2 to 9 years and body weights from 14.5 to 23.2 kg. In 4 patients, plasma concentrations at the end of 30 minutes drip infusion of 20 mg/kg were 29.28 +/- 10.29 micrograms/ml and those 3 hours later were 0.49 +/- 0.26 micrograms/ml. Serum elimination half-lives of the drug were 0.66 +/- 0.12 hours in these patients. Excretion rates of this drug into urine in the first 6 hours after initiation of drug administration were 53 and 40% in 2 of these patients. In 2 patients with 35 and 44 mg/kg of drug administration, plasma concentrations were higher than those given 20 mg/kg of the drug.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)