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There is continued interest in the development of oral beta-lactam compounds, which can be used clinically to treat various bacterial infections, particularly those caused by beta-haemolytic streptococci. Cefixime is a new orally active cephalosporin, with a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity, including Enterobacteriaceae, Haemophilus influenzae, Branhamella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes. Cefixime is highly resistant to hydrolysis by most beta-lactamases. In this study the authors examined the effects of this molecule on Group A and Group B beta-haemolytic streptococci, recently isolated from clinical specimens in the authors' laboratory. MICs and the growth curves of 36 strains of Group A streptococci and the effects of sub-MICs on buccal cell adhesion were evaluated. The results show that concerning the sub-MIC cefixime effect on streptococci adherence, the treatment led to a decrease in adherence to the cells of the strains studied. Moreover cefixime showed good activity with 86.1% of the strains with MIC less than or equal to 0.5 microgram/ml, and the growth curves demonstrated that the molecule possesses a bactericidal effect after 3 h. Concerning Group B streptococci, 70.3% of the strains showed a MIC less than or equal to 2 micrograms/ml. In conclusion cefixime demonstrates good activity on beta-haemolytic streptococci, particularly those of Group A.

In this study the in vitro antibacterial effects of cefixime are presented. Its activity was studied by evaluation of MICs, MBCs and the disc diffusion susceptibility method on Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Moreover, the coefficient of correlation between MIC values and the disc diffusion susceptibility test was evaluated. The results support the wide antimicrobial activity of cefixime, which appears to be particularly effective against enterobacteria.