Hearing Loss as a Sequel to Chloramphenicol and Ampicillin Treatment of Haemophilus Influenzae Meningitis

Abstract

Twenty patients with H. influenzae meningitis who were treated with chloramphenicol in 1959-1970 and 23 patients who were treated with ampicillin in 1968-1974 were re-examined by hearing tests in 1975. In all cases the 2 agents were given initially by the parenteral route, chloramphenicol in doses of 50-150 (averaging 101) mg/kg per day and ampicillin in doses of 125-350 (averaging 229) mg/kg per day. Of the 20 patients in the chloramphenicol group, 5 were found to be deaf in 1 ear; 1 of the 23 patients in the ampicillin group was completely deaf. A further 3 in the chloramphenicol group and 1 in the ampicillin group had slight sensorineural hearing loss in 1 ear. Only in 2 of the 6 deaf patients was the loss discovered during the time of hospital care. The present study did not support the recently reported observation (Gamstorp and Klockhoff, 1974) that the frequency of hearing loss might be higher after ampicillin than after chloramphenicol treatment for H. influenzae meningitis.