Differential-pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry was used to determine sub-micromolar concentrations of ceftriaxone in plasma. A hanging mercury drop electrode was chosen as the working electrode. A simple clean-up procedure was developed in which ceftriaxone was extracted from blood plasma with the non-ionic resin Amberlite XAD-2 and eluted with methanol. The recovery from plasma was 97.6% using a 1.52 x 10(-4) M stock ceftriaxone solution. The method was applied to caesarean cases, and total ceftriaxone levels were measured in the maternal and umbilical cord blood. The amount of ceftriaxone transmitted to the baby on administration of the drug to the mother before the caesarean operation was found to be in the range 0.067-0.17%.