A comparison of the efficacy of azithromycin and clarithromycin in oral therapy of experimental airborne Legionnaires' disease.
The activities of two new macrolides, azithromycin and clarithromycin, were compared in an aerosol-infected guinea-pig model of legionnaires' disease. The results of this study indicate that a low oral dose of azithromycin (3.6 mg/kg) administered once daily gives 100% survival in Legionella pneumophila-infected animals. An eight-fold higher dose of clarithromycin (28.8 mg/kg) given twice-daily was required to achieve the same effect. Similarly, azithromycin was more effective than clarithromycin in preventing pyrexia and in reducing numbers of bacteria and lesions in the lung.
Fitzgeorge
R B
RB
Public Health Laboratory Service Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Lever
S
S
Baskerville
A
A
D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000336:Aerosols; D000818:Animals; D017963:Azithromycin; D017291:Clarithromycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D016952:Legionella pneumophila; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology
D000336:Aerosols; D004917:Erythromycin; D017963:Azithromycin; D017291:Clarithromycin