title: Ofloxacin in community-acquired lower respiratory infections. A comparison with amoxicillin or erythromycin.
abstract: Ninety-one patients with community-acquired lower respiratory infections were treated orally in a comparative 10-day trial of ofloxacin versus amoxicillin or erythromycin. Approximately one-half of the patients had no major underlying disease and the other half had some form of chronic lung disease. Pneumonia was present in 31 percent of the patients and the remainder had purulent bronchitis. Bacterial pathogens were recovered from 60 percent of the patients, with Haemophilus influenzae (33 isolates) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (16 isolates) being the most common. Ofloxacin was found to be a safe, well-tolerated therapeutic agent, which was as effective clinically as amoxicillin or erythromycin and with an advantage of less frequent administration. Ofloxacin was more effective than amoxicillin (90 percent versus 75 percent; p = 0.05) in elimination of pathogenic bacteria from lower airway cultures. Caution should be exercised in the use of ofloxacin, at least in short-term treatment regimens, with anaerobic pulmonary infections; additional information is needed for S. pneumoniae given the relatively high minimal inhibitory concentrations for this species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Texas Health Center, Tyler.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Stocks
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Kohler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000658:Amoxicillin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000188:drug therapy; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D015242:Ofloxacin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000188:drug therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004917:Erythromycin; D000658:Amoxicillin; D015242:Ofloxacin