General
Oxacillin should generally not be administered to patients with a history of sensitivity to any penicillin. Penicillin should be used with caution in individuals with histories of significant allergies and/or asthma. Whenever allergic reactions occur, penicillin should be withdrawn unless, in the opinion of the physician, the condition being treated is life-threatening and amenable only to penicillin therapy. The use of antibiotics may result in overgrowth of nonsusceptible organisms. If new infections due to bacteria or fungi occur, the drug should be discontinued and appropriate measures taken.
Prescribing Oxacillin for Injection, USP in the absence of a proven or strongly suspected bacterial infection or a prophylactic indication is unlikely to provide benefit to the patient and increases the risk of the development of drug-resistant bacteria.
Laboratory Tests
Bacteriologic studies to determine the causative organisms and their susceptibility to oxacillin should be performed (See
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY-Microbiology). In the treatment of suspected staphylococcal infections, therapy should be changed to another active agent if culture tests fail to demonstrate the presence of staphylococci.
Periodic assessment of organ system function including renal, hepatic, and hematopoietic should be made during prolonged therapy with oxacillin.
Blood cultures, white blood cell, and differential cell counts should be obtained prior to initiation of therapy and at least weekly during therapy with oxacillin.
Periodic urinalysis, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine determinations should be performed during therapy with oxacillin and dosage alterations should be considered if these values become elevated. If any impairment of renal function is suspected or known to exist, a reduction in the total dosage should be considered and blood levels monitored to avoid possible neurotoxic reactions.
AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) values should be obtained periodically during therapy to monitor for possible liver function abnormalities.
Drug Interactions
Tetracycline, a bacteriostatic antibiotic, may antagonize the bactericidal effect of penicillin and concurrent use of these drugs should be avoided.
Oxacillin blood levels may be increased and prolonged by concurrent administration of probenecid which blocks the renal tubular secretion of penicillins. Probenecid decreases the apparent volume of distribution and slows the rate of excretion by competitively inhibiting renal tubular secretion of penicillins.
Oxacillin-probenecid therapy should be limited to those infections where very high serum levels of oxacillin are necessary.
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
No long-term animal studies have been conducted with these drugs. Studies on reproduction (nafcillin) in rats and rabbits reveal no fetal or maternal abnormalities before conception and continuously through weaning (one generation).
Pregnancy
Teratogenic Effects
Pregnancy Category B
Reproduction studies performed in the mouse, rat, and rabbit have revealed no evidence of impaired fertility or harm to the fetus due to the penicillinase-resistant penicillins. Human experience with the penicillins during pregnancy has not shown any positive evidence of adverse effects on the fetus. There are, however, no adequate or well-controlled studies in pregnant women showing conclusively that harmful effects of these drugs on the fetus can be excluded. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, this drug should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.
Nursing Mothers
Penicillins are excreted in human milk. Caution should be exercised when penicillins are administered to a nursing woman.
Pediatric Use
Because of incompletely developed renal function in pediatric patients, oxacillin may not be completely excreted, with abnormally high blood levels resulting. Frequent blood levels are advisable in this group with dosage adjustments when necessary. All pediatric patients treated with penicillins should be monitored closely for clinical and laboratory evidence of toxic or adverse effects. Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.
Geriatric Use
Clinical studies of oxacillin for injection did not include sufficient number of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger patients. In general, dose selection for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy.
This drug is known to be substantially excreted by the kidney, and the risk of toxic reactions to this drug may be greater in patients with impaired renal function. Because elderly patients are more likely to have decreased renal function, care should be taken in dose selection, and it may be useful to monitor renal function.
Oxacillin for Injection contains 64.4 mg (2.8 mEq) of sodium per gram of oxacillin. At the usual recommended doses, patients would receive between 64.4 and 386.4 mg/day (2.8 and 16.8 mEq) of sodium. The geriatric population may respond with a blunted natriuresis to salt loading. This may be clinically important with regard to such diseases as congestive heart failure.
Information for Patients
Patients should be counseled that antibacterial drugs including Oxacillin for Injection, USP should only be used to treat bacterial infections. They do not treat viral infections (e.g., the common cold). When Oxacillin for Injection, USP is prescribed to treat a bacterial infection, patients should be told that although it is common to feel better early in the course of therapy, the medication should be taken exactly as directed. Skipping doses or not completing the full course of therapy may: (1) decrease the effectiveness of the immediate treatment, and (2) increase the likelihood that bacteria will develop resistance and will not be treatable by Oxacillin for Injection or other antibacterial drugs in the future.
Diarrhea is a common problem caused by antibiotics which usually ends when the antibiotic is discontinued. Sometimes after starting treatment with antibiotics, patients can develop watery and bloody stools (with or without stomach cramps and fever) even as late as two or more months after having taken the last dose of the antibiotic. If this occurs, patients should contact their physician as soon as possible.