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©2013 UpToDate ® Print Email Doses of oral antibiotics commonly used in the treatment of bacterial arthritis in infants and children >1 month of age* Oral agent Dose Amoxicillin • 100 mg/kg per day divided in 4 doses Cefixime 8 mg/kg per day in divided in 1 or 2 doses; maximum dose 400 mg/day Cephalexin • 150 mg/kg per day in divided in 4 doses; maximum dose 4 g/day Clindamycin 30 mg/kg per day divided in 3 doses; maximum dose 1.8 g/day Cloxacillin • 125 mg/kg per day divided in 4 doses Dicloxacillin • 100 mg/kg per day divided in 4 doses Penicillin V • 150 mg/kg per day divided in 6 doses * See text for details regarding indications for particular drugs; recommended doses are for patients with normal renal function. Antibiotics administered orally for bacterial arthritis are generally given in higher doses than those used for treatment of other infections and recommended in package inserts. • To achieve adequate serum levels, doses can be increased to 200 mg/kg per day without serious adverse side effects. Diarrhea can be mitigated by using the doses above and adding probenecid (40 mg/kg per day in 4 divided doses, maximum of 2 grams per day).