Antibiotics and InvasiveHaemophilus influenzae

RECENTLY, the information service of the Center for Disease Control,1 , 2 the Medical Letter 3 and the American Academy of Pediatrics4 have sounded the alert that invasive strains of Haemophilus influenzae isolated throughout the United States have been found to be resistant to ampicillin, many of the isolates being associated with treatment failure. In some institutions, the frequency of these isolates appears to be increasing; three of 28 strains isolated from blood or cerebrospinal fluid over the last 10 months at Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, have been resistant. Logically, then, the antibiotic sensitivity and particularly ampicillin sensitivity of encapsulated, and . . .