[Therapeutic efficacy of ceftibuten in chronic respiratory tract infections]

We evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of ceftibuten (CETB, 7432-S), a new cephem antibiotic for oral use, in chronic respiratory tract infections. A daily dose of 400 mg (b.i.d.: 15 cases) or 600 mg (t.i.d.: 5 cases) of CETB was given orally for 3-14 days (mean: 10.6 days) to 20 patients: 9 with infected bronchiectasis, 3 with infection supervened on pulmonary emphysema, 3 with acute pneumonia (supervened on bronchiectasis in 2 of 3 cases), 2 with infected bronchial asthma, 1 each with infection supervened on old pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis and pulmonary fibrosis. The clinical effects were excellent in 3, good in 11, fair in 3 and poor in 3. Eighteen strains were identified as causative organisms. Eight of 15 strains for which bacteriological responses were evaluable were eradicated by the use of CETB. Eosinophilia in 2 patients and an elevation of S-GPT value was observed in 1 patient. These adverse reactions disappeared after the completion of the therapy. From the above results, we conclude that CETB is one of the most useful antibiotics for oral use as a first choice in chronic respiratory tract infections.