Comparative in vivo efficiency of cefamandole and cefoxitin against Bacteroides fragilis.

An experimental model, where fibrin clots were inserted subcutaneously in rabbits, was adapted to study the in vivo efficacy of two cephalosporins against Bacteroides fragilis. The respective MIC's of cefamandole and cefoxitin against the microorganism were 16 microgram/ml and 1 microgram/ml. The clots were infected with 10(7) B. fragilis. Groups of seven animals received an intravenous bolus injection (100 mg/kg) of either drug. The serum levels of both drugs were similar to those seen in humans. The peak concentrations of cefamandole (40 microgram/mg) in the clots were found to be ten times higher than those of cefoxitin (4 microgram/mg). The log number of colony forming units in the clots averaged 7.5 at 0 h. At 6 hours, this number reached 8 in the untreated animals, 1.5 after cefoxitin, and 1.7 after cefamandole. The apparent in vitro superiority of cefoxitin against B. fragilis could not be demonstrated in vivo. This discrepancy between in vitro and in vivo data can be explained by the high degree of penetrance of cefamandole into the infected fibrin loci. In this animal system, both cefoxitin and cefamandole had similar in vivo activity against B. fragilis.