Short-course intravenous antibiotics with oral quinolone prophylaxis in the treatment of neutropenic fever in autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood progenitor cell transplant recipients.

The effectiveness of short-course intravenous antibiotics concurrent with prophylactic oral ciprofloxacin in the treatment of neutropenic fever was studied in 81 patients undergoing autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation (ABMT or PBPCT). During the neutropenic period following ABMT or PBPCT, 10/81 (12%) patients did not require treatment with intravenous antibiotics. Seventy-one patients required antibiotics. Forty-seven of the 71 (66%) responded to 72 h treatment with gentamicin, azlocillin or ceftazidime, and vancomycin. Thirty-three of the 47 (70%) responders had a complete resolution of their fever with no further recurrence. Fourteen of the 47 responders developed a second fever between 2 and 25 days after stopping first-line antibiotics. Eleven of the 14 patients responded to a second course of intravenous antibiotics. Twenty-four of the 71 patients did not respond to intravenous antibiotics and were treated with intravenous amphotericin and the intravenous antibacterial agents were discontinued. Eighteen of the 24 patients responded to amphotericin. The 6 patients who had persistent fever resolved their temperature when their neutrophil count recovered. There were no deaths due to infection during the study. Short-duration intravenous antibiotics in conjuction with oral ciprofloxacin prophylaxis are a safe and effective treatment for neutropenic fever.