title: Twice-a-day regimen of erythromycin base is effective in the treatment of acute streptococcal tonsillitis.
abstract: A multicenter clinical trial on the efficacy and safety of a twice-a-day administration of erythromycin base was performed on 261 adolescent or adult patients with acute tonsillitis. The patients were randomized for each doctor separately into q.i.d. (4 x 250 mg) and b.i.d. (2 x 500 mg) groups. Throat swabs were cultured for group A beta-haemolytic streptococci before the treatment and, in positive cases (100 patients), 2-3 days after completing the treatment of at least 7 days. No significant difference in the efficacy between the two regimens was observed as judged by clinical evaluation or bacteriological examination. About 90% of patients were completely healed by both criteria in both treatment groups. Side-effects were reported in 40 and 44% respectively, in the treatment groups. However, only 9/244 (3.7%) had to stop the treatment because of side-effects. Six of these belonged to the b.i.d. group and 3 to the q.i.d. group. This difference is not statistically significant (p greater than or equal to 0.05). Our results suggest that twice-a-day regimen of erythromycin base is an effective and well-tolerated treatment of streptococcal tonsillitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hovi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Svahn
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valtonen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes; D014069:Tonsillitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D004917:Erythromycin