Antibiotic Drug Levels
Michael G. Rosenberg MD, PhD1
1 Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY
Editors: Henry M. Adam, MD.
In the past, efficacy, as defined by controlled clinical trials, was the primary factor in the selection of a particular antibiotic regimen. Today, as the number of antimicrobial agents approved for clinical use has grown almost exponentially, efficacy rarely is emphasized in published clinical trials. More commonly they demonstrate therapeutic equivalence rather than superiority of new compounds to previously accepted regimens. For this reason, the two criteria that now factor most prominently into the selection of equally effective antibiotics are relative toxicity and cost.
Three major classes of antibiotics used throughout the world in the treatment of serious pediatric infectious diseases are chloramphenicol (CAP) and its derivatives, aminoglycosides (AGs), and vancomycin and related glycopeptides.
