The Sensitivities and Cross Resistances of Gram Negative Bacilli to Antibiotics

Abstract

This report is an attempt to present data regarding the sensitivities of Gram-negative bacilli to antibiotics in a manner that will be of maximum use to practicing physicians. Experience at the Milwaukee County General Hospital has shown that many cases of severe infections must be treated with antibiotics before the results of sensitivity tests are available to the ward physician. In these cases therapy which has been based on previous experience regarding the sensitivities of bacteria to the antibiotics usually has been successful. As a result of this experience the majority of cases of infections are now treated successfully with antibiotics that are selected on the basis of statistical studies rather than by specific sensitivity tests on each causative strain of bacteria. This has markedly reduced the number of sensitivity studies that must be done by the laboratory and allowed us to use the highly sensitive tube-dilution method for determining