CLINICAL EFFICACY AND TOLERANCE OF AUGMENTIN IN SOFT-TISSUE INFECTION

Patients (27) with infections caused by amoxycillin-resistant bacteria were treated with oral Augmentin, a formulation of amoxycillin with the .beta.-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid. The infections treated were gynecological sepsis (11), intra abdominal sepsis (10), cellulitis (4) and bronchopneumonia (2). Bacteroides fragilis, alone or in combination with other pathogens, was isolated from 10 patients, Staphylococcus aureus being identified as a primary pathogen in 4 patients (and presumed to be the pathogen in a further 4). Three patients were bacteremic. The overall cure rate was 85% (23 of 27 patients), the remaining patients being assessed as improved. There were no treatment failures. The cure rate in infections involving B. fragilis was 80% and that in staphylococcal infection 87.5%. Augmentin was well tolerated, 2 patients developing a penicillin rash (7.5%) and 2 mild nausea (7.5%). Augmentin is a safe and effective alternative to conventional antibiotics in those patients with invasive soft tissue infection in whom oral therapy is appropriate.