[Use of oral antibacterial drugs in the treatment of acute pneumonia in children]

Abstract

The efficacy of oral antimicrobial agents was studied under conditions of monitored clinical trials. Overall 279 children with different clinical forms of acute pneumonia were entered into the study. It has been shown that the treatment of uncomplicated acute pneumonias may be started since the day of admission to the hospital. The total efficacy of oral drugs was 75%. This does not differ essentially from the efficacy of antibiotics administered parenterally (89%). It has been established that early change (on days 1-3 since the effective treatment) from parenteral to oral administration of antibiotics does not reduce the treatment efficacy but noticeably lowers the injection load of the patients. The side effects (dyspeptic disorders) that occur very frequently during erythromycin treatment suggest that this antibiotic should not be administered to infants.