A Study of Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Unconscious Patients

Abstract

A CONSEQUENCE of the successful treatment of many bacterial diseases with antibiotics has been the attempt to prevent infection by the administration of these agents prophylactically. This approach has been strikingly effective in cases in which chemoprophylaxis has been directed at a single etiologic agent such as the beta-hemolytic streptococcus, the meningococcus, the gonococcus and some species of shigella. There is no doubt that impending outbreaks of infection by these organisms can be aborted by administration of the antimicrobial drugs. In addition to this specific use, antibiotics are frequently employed in attempts to prevent "secondary" bacterial complications of diseases in . . .