[Clinical investigation of a long-acting amoxicillin preparation in patients with skin and soft-tissue infections].

A clinical investigation of a long-acting amoxicillin preparation (L-AMPC) in 82 patients (81 with skin and soft-tissue infections and 1 with osteomyelitis) gave the following results. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis were most frequently detected organisms. With an inoculum of 10(6) cells/ml, the respective MICs for S. aureus and S. epidermidis were 1.56 micrograms/ml and 0.2 micrograms/ml. When evaluated by the doctors in charge, the overall effect was excellent in 23 patients, good in 46, fair in 7 and poor in 6, with an efficacy rate of 84.1%. The efficacy rate was as high as 75.0 approximately 95.5% in considerable numbers of patients with furuncle, felon, infectious sebaceous cyst, subcutaneous abscess, phlegmon or periproctic abscess. The effectiveness rate was 92.3% (12/13) in patients who did not respond to treatment with other antibiotics such as cephalexin. The standard criteria of overall effectiveness were newly established by the committee under the consideration of the clinical course of symptoms and absence or present of surgical procedure. When evaluated by the standard criteria, the overall effectiveness was excellent in 27 patients, good in 42, fair in 4 and poor in 9, with an efficacy rate of 84.1%. There were no significant differences between the evaluation by the doctors in charge and that by the standard criteria. The eradication rate of the organisms detected was 94.1% (64/68 patients); 85.7% for S. aureus (24/28 strains) and 100% for S. epidermidis (27/27 strains). No significant differences were noted between the patients with and without surgical procedure in clinical effectiveness or bacteriological efficacy. One patient had diarrhea of unknown cause. No abnormal changes due to L-AMPC were noted in any laboratory test. The usefulness rate was 76.8%. These findings indicate that L-AMPC in b.i.d. doses is safe and effective in skin and soft-tissue infections in surgery.