A randomized controlled clinical study on azithromycin versus erythromycin and open trial on azityromycin in the treatment of acute lower respiratory tract infection

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of azithromycin in the treatment of acute lower respiratory tract infection.Methods A randomized controlled clinical study on azithromycin versus erythromycin was conducted in the treatment of 40 cases of lower respiratory tract infection,20 patients received azithromycin intravenously at the doses of 250 mg twice daily for the first day and 250 mg per day for the following days,with a treatment course of 5～7 days.20 patients received erythromycin intravenously at the doses of 600 mg twice daily for 7 days.30 patients were enrolled in the open trial study on azithromycin and were given azithromycin at the same dose and treatment course.Results In the randomized controlled study the clinical effective rate was 85% in azithomycin group and 80% in erythromycin group.Bacterial clearance rates of the two groups were 100% and 93.7% respectively. Drug adverse reaction rates were 10% and 25% respectively. In open trial group the clinical effective rate was 86.7%,bacterial clearance rate was 95.7% and drug adverse reaction rate was 6.7%.Conclusion Intravenous azithromycin at the dose of 250 mg daily (first day 250mg twice daily)is effective and safe in the treatment of lower respiratory tract infection.