Clinical efficacy of sparfloxacin in mycoplasmal pneumonia: a pilot study

Sparfloxacin, a new synthetic quinolone antimicrobial agent, was administered to 20 patients with mycoplasmal pneumonia to evaluate its clinical efficacy and adverse effects. The efficacy rate was 100%. In all cases, the subjective symptoms, chest x-ray findings and inflammatory response improved within 5 days after sparfloxacin administration. There were no adverse events including abnormal laboratory values in any of the patients during the treatment period, and no adverse effects that were thought to be due to sparfloxacin were encountered. Since sparfloxacin displays an excellent activity against Mycoplasma pneumoniae and has a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against not only Gram-negative bacteria but also Gram-positive bacteria, Legionella, Chlamydia and acid-fast bacteria, it appears to be useful as the drug of first choice in the treatment of respiratory tract infections.