Macrolide use shortens fever duration in Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in children: a 2-year experience.
OBJECTIVE
Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is a major cause of community-acquired respiratory tract infection in children. We performed a retrospective study to evaluate clinical and demographic data and compare outcomes with and without macrolide treatment in children with M. pneumoniae infection.


METHODS
A total of 139 patients were included in the study and classified into two groups according to whether or not they received macrolide therapy during hospitalization. Data collected included demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics.


RESULTS
Cases were most prevalent during September. Fever and cough were the most common presenting symptoms/signs. The time to fever subsidence did not differ significantly between azithromycin and erythromycin usage. We also found significantly longer fever duration in the group without macrolide usage.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with macrolide shortens fever duration of M. pneumoniae infection in children.
Lu
Ying-Jen
YJ
Department of Pediatrics, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chen
Tou-Hwei
TH
Lin
Lung-Huang
LH
Shen
Chung-Min
CM
Huang
Ceng-Hua
CH
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017963:Azithromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011019:Pneumonia, Mycoplasma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004917:Erythromycin; D017963:Azithromycin