Cefalonium

General

• Type: 1st generation Cephalosporin
• Dosage Forms: Intramammary suspension, Ophthalmic ointment (Veterinary)
• Dosage Strengths: Various veterinary formulations (e.g., 250mg)
• Routes of Administration: Intramammary, Topical (Ocular)
• Common Trade Names: Cepravin, Cefalonium

Adult Dosing

General

• Clinical Note: Cefalonium is primarily a veterinary antibiotic used for "dry cow" therapy and ocular infections in animals.
• There are no established FDA-approved dosing regimens for human systemic use in emergency medicine.

Pediatric Dosing

General

• Not indicated for human pediatric use.

Special Populations

• Pregnancy: Not defined for humans.
• Lactation: Used in veterinary medicine specifically during the dry period to prevent mastitis; milk withholding periods apply to animals. Human safety data is not available.
• Renal
  • Adult: Not defined for humans.
  • Pediatric: Not defined for humans.
• Hepatic (Adult & Pediatric)
  • Not defined

Contraindications

• Allergy to class/drug (Cephalosporins/Beta-lactams)

Adverse Reactions

Serious

• Similar cross-reactivity risks to other Cephalosporins if exposure occurs:
• Anaphylaxis
• Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (Theoretical)
• Clostridium difficile (Theoretical)

Common

• Hypersensitivity reactions
• Local irritation (if applied topically)

Pharmacology

• Half-life: Pharmacokinetics not well-characterized for human systemic use.
• Metabolism: Not defined for humans.
• Excretion: Urine (in animal models)
• Mechanism of Action: Bactericidal; inhibits cell wall mucopeptide synthesis (binds to penicillin-binding proteins).

Antibiotic Sensitivities

Group	Organism	Sensitivity
Gram Positive	Strep. Group A, B, C, G	S
	Strep. Pneumoniae	S
	Viridans strep	S
	Strep. anginosus gp	X1
	Enterococcus faecalis	R
	Enterococcus faecium	R
	MSSA	S
	MRSA	R
	CA-MRSA	R
	Staph. Epidermidis	I
	C. jeikeium	R
	L. monocytogenes	R
Gram Negatives	N. gonorrhoeae	X1
	N. meningitidis	R
	Moraxella catarrhalis	X1
	H. influenzae	X1
	E. coli	S
	Klebsiella sp	S
	E. coli/Klebsiella ESBL+	R
	E coli/Klebsiella KPC+	R
	Enterobacter sp, AmpC neg	R
	Enterobacter sp, AmpC pos	R
	Serratia sp	R
	Serratia marcescens	R
	Salmonella sp	X1
	Shigella sp	X1
	Proteus mirabilis	S
	Proteus vulgaris	R
	Providencia sp.	R
	Morganella sp.	R
	Citrobacter freundii	R
	Citrobacter diversus	R
	Citrobacter sp.	R
	Aeromonas sp	R
	Acinetobacter sp.	R
	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	R
	Burkholderia cepacia	R
	Stenotrophomonas maltophilia	R
	Yersinia enterocolitica	R
	Francisella tularensis	R
	Brucella sp.	R
	Legionella sp.	R
	Pasteurella multocida	R
	Haemophilus ducreyi	R
	Vibrio vulnificus	R
Misc	Chlamydophila sp	R
	Mycoplasm pneumoniae	R
	Rickettsia sp	R
	Mycobacterium avium	R
Anaerobes	Actinomyces	X1
	Bacteroides fragilis	R
	Prevotella melaninogenica	X1
	Clostridium difficile	X1
	Clostridium (not difficile)	X1
	Fusobacterium necrophorum	X1
	Peptostreptococcus sp.	X1

Key

• S susceptible/sensitive (usually)
• I intermediate (variably susceptible/resistant)
• R resistant (or not effective clinically)
• S+ synergistic with cell wall antibiotics
• U sensitive for UTI only (non systemic infection)
• X1 no data
• X2 active in vitro, but not used clinically
• X3 active in vitro, but not clinically effective for Group A strep pharyngitis or infections due to E. faecalis
• X4 active in vitro, but not clinically effective for strep pneumonia

See Also

• Antibiotics (Main)
• Cefazolin