Five-day treatment of non-severe, community-acquired pneumonia with josamycin

J Antimicrob Chemother. 1993 May;31(5):749-54. doi: 10.1093/jac/31.5.749.

Abstract

This study assessed the efficacy of oral josamycin 1 g bd for five days as treatment for non-severe, community-acquired pneumonia in patients less than 60 years of age who were not at obvious risk of developing respiratory tract infection caused by aerobic Gram-negative bacilli. Of the 84 patients (43 male, 41 female) with a mean age of 33 years who were enrolled during a 14-month period, the clinical outcome was invariably favourable. All patients became afebrile within three days of starting therapy; the mean duration of fever after initiating treatment was 1.7 days. Therefore, according to the study protocol, josamycin therapy was discontinued on day five. A chest X-ray performed four to six weeks after completing treatment was normal in every case and no relapses were observed during a six-week follow-up period. We conclude that a five-day course of josamycin is effective monotherapy for community-acquired pneumonia in patients without the clinical features of severe infection.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Josamycin / therapeutic use*
  • Legionnaires' Disease / drug therapy
  • Legionnaires' Disease / microbiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pneumonia / drug therapy*
  • Pneumonia / microbiology
  • Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / drug therapy
  • Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / microbiology
  • Pneumonia, Staphylococcal / drug therapy
  • Pneumonia, Staphylococcal / microbiology
  • Q Fever / drug therapy
  • Q Fever / microbiology
  • Recurrence

Substances

  • Josamycin