The results obtained after short-term surgical prophylaxis with ceftriaxone in 443 patients of whom 361 operated of choice are reported. In all, only 3 failures were encountered. The drug also proved to be well tolerated and there were no noteworthy side-effects in the treated patients. The effectiveness of prophylactic treatment is attributed to the long half-life of the molecule (about 8 hours) guaranteeing efficient antibacterial cover with just one administration for the whole period that is critical for surgical infections, during and after operation.