Clinical evaluation of macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae.
Macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MR M. pneumoniae) has been isolated from clinical specimens in Japan since 2000. A comparative study was carried out to determine whether or not macrolides are effective in treating patients infected with MR M. pneumoniae. The clinical courses of 11 patients with MR M. pneumoniae infection (MR patients) treated with macrolides were compared with those of 26 patients with macrolide-susceptible M. pneumoniae infection (MS patients). The total febrile days and the number of febrile days during macrolide administration were longer in the MR patients than in the MS patients (median of 8 days versus median of 5 days [P = 0.019] and 3 days versus 1 day [P = 0.002], respectively). In addition, the MR patients were more likely than the MS patients to have had a change of the initially prescribed macrolide to another antimicrobial agent (63.6% versus 3.8%; odds ratio, 43.8; P < 0.001), which might reflect the pediatrician's judgment that the initially prescribed macrolide was not sufficiently effective in these patients. Despite the fact that the febrile period was prolonged in MR patients given macrolides, the fever resolved even when the initial prescription was not changed. These results show that macrolides are certainly less effective in MR patients.
Suzuki
Satowa
S
Department of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Infection Control, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
Yamazaki
Tsutomu
T
Narita
Mitsuo
M
Okazaki
Norio
N
Suzuki
Isao
I
Andoh
Tomoaki
T
Matsuoka
Mayumi
M
Kenri
Tsuyoshi
T
Arakawa
Yoshichika
Y
Sasaki
Tsuguo
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018942:Macrolides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D018942:Macrolides