Zinacef

Z

ZINACEF 1.5 g, 750 mg and 250 mg

cefuroxime sodium powder for injection

Please read this leaflet carefully before starting to take your medicine. Keep it safe, as you may want to read it again. This leaflet contains important information about Zinacef injection. If you want to know more about your illness or your medicine, ask your pharmacist or doctor.

What is Zinacef?

Zinacef contains cefuroxime, which is an antibiotic belonging to the cephalosporin class. Antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria or “germs” which cause infections.

What Zinacef contains

Each vial contains:

The active ingredient - cefuroxime 250 mg or 750 mg or 1.5 g (as sodium salt).

Other ingredients - none.

Zinacef is supplied in single vials of cefuroxime 250 mg, 750 mg or 1.5 g.

Product licence holder and manufacturer Product licence held by Glaxo Operations UK Ltd. trading as GlaxoSmithKline UK Stockley Park West Uxbridge Middlesex UB11 1BT Manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline Manufacturing S.p.A. Verona Italy What Zinacef does

This medicine is used to treat infections of the airways; ear, nose and throat; urinary tract; bones and joints; pelvis; blood and wounds; gonorrhoea and meningitis.

Your doctor has decided to give you Zinacef because you have an infection or to protect you from infection before an operation or during dialysis. Sometimes Zinacef is used at the same time as other antibiotics and the correct dose is checked by blood tests.

Before having Zinacef Make sure your doctor knows: if you think you may be pregnant if you are breast-feeding if you have been told that you are allergic to Zinacef, cefuroxime or other antibiotics e.g. penicillin if you have been told that your kidneys are not working as well as they should be if you are taking a diuretic such as furosemide if you are taking an aminoglycoside type antibiotic or any other antibiotics. You and your doctor should also know that: if your urine is tested for sugar, Zinacef does not normally cause a false positive result as occurs with some other cephalosporin antibiotics if you have any blood tests, Zinacef can cause changes to the results.

Like other medicines used to treat meningitis, Zinacef may take a while to clear the body of all the meningitis infection. Because of this, hearing loss caused by meningitis has occurred in a few patients after using Zinacef to treat the disease.

Dosage and administration

The correct dose of Zinacef will be decided by your doctor and depends on the type of infection and your weight and age. Zinacef will usually be given by a doctor or nurse either directly into a vein or into a muscle. In some cases, it may be added to a “drip” intravenous infusion. Zinacef is made up by adding the following amount of sterile water or other recommended diluting solution.

Vial Size 250mg Intramuscular injection (suspension): 1ml Intravenous injection (solution): 2ml Intravenous infusion (solution): - Vial Size 750mg Intramuscular injection (suspension): 3ml Intravenous injection (solution): 6ml Intravenous infusion (solution): - Vial Size 1.5g Intramuscular injection (suspension): - Intravenous injection (solution): 15ml Intravenous infusion (solution): - Vial Size 1.5g infusion Intramuscular injection (suspension): - Intravenous injection (solution): - Intravenous infusion (solution): 50ml

The usual adult dose is from 750 mg to 1.5 g three times a day: bigger or more frequent doses are sometimes needed. The duration of treatment depends on the type of infection. In special cases, just one 1.5 g dose is sufficient.

To treat pneumonia in adults, the usual dose of Zinacef is 1.5 g, twice a day for 2 to 3 days, followed by a 7 day course of the oral form of Zinacef, called Zinnat (cefuroxime axetil).

To treat a sudden worsening of chronic bronchitis, the usual dose of Zinacef is 750 mg, twice a day for 2 to 3 days, followed by a 5 to 7 day course of Zinnat.

The duration of your treatment with Zinacef or Zinnat will depend on how severe your infection is and how well you are responding to the treatment.

For infants and children, the dose is based on body weight and is usually between 30 mg to 100 mg per kilogram daily divided into three or four separate doses. For newborn children the dose is as for infants and children, but is divided into 2 or 3 doses.

The daily dose depends on whether it is a simple or complicated infection and on whether other antibiotics are being used at the same time.

For patients with kidney problems the dose of Zinacef will be reduced.

Your medication will usually be given to you by a health professional. However if you think you may have missed a dose or have received too much medicine please tell your doctor or nurse.

Zinacef Side Effects

Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause unwanted effects. Most people given Zinacef find it causes no problems.

A few people can be allergic to antibiotics, if any of the following rare side effects appear soon after having your injection, tell your doctor immediately:

sudden wheeziness, chest tightness, pain or collapse, as these may be symptoms of an acute allergic reaction to your medicine. The more common side effects of Zinacef that could happen to between in 1 in 10 and 1 in 100 people taking it include: changes to “blood counts” or tests used to measure the functioning of organs in the body such as the liver pain or inflammation at the site of injection (thrombophlebitis). Uncommon side effects that could happen to between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000 people taking Zinacef include: skin lumps or hives skin rash (red spots), itchiness diarrhoea or vomiting. Rare side effects that could happen to between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 10,000 people include: as with other antibiotics after long courses of treatment, thrush in the vagina or mouth can occur easy bruising (thrombocytopenia) fever. Very rare side effects that could happen to less 1 in 10,000 taking Zinacef include: swelling of eyelids, face or lips severe diarrhoea from colitis (lower end of the bowel inflamed) kidney inflammation blistering or peeling skin.

If you feel unwell or have any unusual discomfort you do not understand, tell the doctor as soon as possible.

Storage

If you keep the vials at home, keep them away from heat and light which could spoil them. As with all medicines, keep Zinacef vials safely away from children. Store any unopened vials at room temperature below 25°C (77°F). Store reconstituted vials in a fridge at 2-8°C for no longer than 24 hours. Do not autoclave (a method of sterilization often used in hospitals).

What to do with any unused medication

If you are at home and your doctor stops your treatment, return any unused Zinacef vials to a pharmacist for disposal. Only keep your medication if your doctor tells you to. Do not use the unopened vials after the expiry date on the label or carton.

Further information

Remember this medicine is for you. Only a doctor can prescribe it for you.

This leaflet does not tell you everything about your medication. If you have any questions or are not sure about anything, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

You may be able to find out more about prescribed medicines from books in public libraries.

Leaflet last updated 3 May 2006

The information provided applies only to Zinacef

Zinacef and Zinnat are registered trademarks of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies

© 2006 GlaxoSmithKline group of companies

Zinacef

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