Twelve patients, intubated for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, received six intravenous doses of 400 mg of pefloxacin at 12-h intervals. Samples of blood and bronchial secretions were taken simultaneously, before the injection and at 0.5, 3, 6, 9, and 12 h after the end of the sixth infusion. There was a large variation in pefloxacin levels in both serum and bronchial secretions. The mean concentrations of pefloxacin in bronchial secretions ranged from 6.51 to 11.1 micrograms/ml and were higher than the corresponding concentrations in serum at all times. Of 61 bronchial specimens, 48 (79%) contained more than 8 micrograms of the antibiotic per ml.