Background Ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone and pivmecillinam are the antibiotics currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of dysentery in children; yet there have been no reviews of the clinical effectiveness of these antibiotics in recent years.Methods We reviewed all literature reporting the effect of ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone and pivmecillinam for the treatment of dysentery in children in the developing countries. We used a standardized abstraction and grading format and performed meta-analyses to determine the effect of treatment with these antibiotics on rates of treatment failure, bacteriological failure and bacteriological relapse. The CHERG Standard Rules were applied to determine the final effect of treatment with these antibiotics on diarrhoea mortality.Results Eight papers were selected for abstraction. Treatment with ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone or pivmecillinam resulted in a cure rate of >99% while assessing clinical failure, bacteriological failure and bacteriological relapse.Conclusions The antibiotics recommended by the WHO—ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone and pivmecillinam—are effective in reducing the clinical and bacteriological signs and symptoms of dysentery and thus can be expected to decrease diarrhoea mortality attributable to dysentery.

Stroke is a major cause of neurologic morbidity in neonates and children. Because neonatal and pediatric stroke frequently present with seizures, the question of which anticonvulsant best blocks acute ischemic seizures and reduces injury is clinically relevant. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which gabapentin is neuroprotective and suppresses acute seizures in this model of ischemic injury in the immature brain. Postnatal day 12 CD1 mice underwent right common carotid artery ligation and immediately after ligation received a 0, 50, 100, 150, or 200 mg/kg dose of gabapentin intraperitoneally. Acute seizure activity was behaviorally scored and hemispheric brain atrophy measured. In vehicle-treated mice, severity of acute seizures correlated with hemispheric brain atrophy 4 wks later. Gabapentin significantly decreased acute seizures at 200 mg/kg and reduced brain atrophy at doses of 150 and 200 mg/kg but not at lower doses. These results suggest that gabapentin effectively reduces acute seizures and injury after ischemia in the immature brain. When analyzed by animal sex, the data suggest that gabapentin may more effectively reduce acute seizures and injury in male pups vs. female pups. (Pediatr Res 64: 81-85, 2008)