Efficacy and safety of teicoplanin in gram-positive pulmonary infections

Teicoplanin is a new antibiotic obtained from a culture filtrate of Actinoplanes teichomyceticus with potent activity against aerobic and anaerobic gram-positive bacteria and having a high affinity for healthy or inflamed bronchial mucosa and pulmonary parenchyma. To investigate the efficacy and safety of this drug, we selected 13 patients suffering from lower respiratory tract infections caused by gram-positive organisms. Pathogens isolated from sputum or bronchial aspirate were: 8 Staphylococcus aureus, 1 Staphylococcus epidermidis, 3 Streptococcus pneumoniae and 1 Streptococcus species. We began treatment as monotherapy at the dosage of 400 mg daily (200 mg x 2) I.M. only after microbiological evaluation. 11 patients (84.6%) were clinically and bacteriologically cured, 1 (7.7%) showed definite clinical improvement but persistence of causative agent and 1 (7.7%) failed to respond. The mean treatment period was 8.3 days. No major adverse effect was observed. We conclude that teicoplanin is a very efficacious and well-tolerated antibiotic for therapy of gram-positive pulmonary infections.