Open AccessAzithromycin in the Treatment of Legionella Pneumonia Requiring Hospitalization
Author(s) -
Joseph F. Plouffe,
Robert F. Breiman,
Barry S. Fields,
Mark Herbert,
Jill Inverso,
Charles Knirsch,
Antonia Kolokathis,
Thomas J. Marrie,
Lindsay E. Nicolle,
Donald Schwartz
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
clinical infectious diseases/clinical infectious diseases (online. university of chicago. press)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.44
H-Index - 336
eISSN - 1537-6591
pISSN - 1058-4838
DOI - 10.1086/379329
Subject(s) - azithromycin , medicine , legionnaires' disease , pneumonia , legionella pneumophila , legionella , open label , clinical trial , surgery , antibiotics , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , genetics , biology
Azithromycin is highly active against Legionella pneumophila and has been shown to be efficacious in animal models and in clinical studies of patients with legionnaires disease. This open, prospective, multicenter trial evaluated azithromycin for the treatment of legionnaires disease. Twenty-five hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia and a positive result of a L. pneumophila serogroup 1 urinary antigen assay received monotherapy with intravenous azithromycin (500 mg/day) for 2-7 days, followed by oral azithromycin (1500 mg administered over the course of 3 or 5 days). The mean total duration of intravenous plus oral therapy was 7.92 days. The overall cure rate among clinically evaluable patients was 95% (20 of 21 patients) at 10-14 days after therapy and 96% (22 of 23 patients) at 4-6 weeks after therapy. The results of this study support previously reported data demonstrating that azithromycin is both safe and efficacious for the treatment of hospitalized patients with legionnaires disease.