[Roxithromycin in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia]

The aim of the present study was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of roxithromycin in the empiric treatment of extra-hospitalary pneumonias in immunocompetent adult patients.

Over a 12 month period 101 patients with extra-hospitalary pneumonia who attended the Emergency Department were studied. Of these, 53 were treated as out patients (5 with amoxicillin-clavulanic, 25 with erythromycin and 23 with roxithromycin at daily doses of 300 mg for 10 days). The treatment was randomly chosen, with no patient selection, thus making heterogeneous groups and, therefore, the study could not be comparative.

In patients receiving roxithromycin, an etiologic diagnosis was achieved in 15 cases (65.3%), with Mycoplasma pneumoniae, being the most frequent pathogen (10 cases), followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (3), Chlamydia pneumoniae (1) and Haemophilus influenzae (1). The mean duration of fever was 1.9 days, 6.7 days for respiratory manifestations and resolution of the radiographic infiltrate 11.6 days. The evolution was good in all the patients with no secondary effects or relapse occurring in any patient.

Roxithromycin is an effective, safe and comfortable antibiotic in the treatment of infections of the lower respiratory tract acquired in the community.