COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF SPARFLOXACIN IN COMPARISON WITH AMOXICILLIN PLUS OFLOXACIN IN THE TREATMENT OF COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA

A prospective, placebo controlled double-blind, randomised study compa ring oral sparfloxacin 200 mg once daily following a 400 mg loading do se on day 1 with an oral combination of amoxycillin 1 g rid plus oflox acin 200 mg bid was conducted in 211 hospitalised patients with commun ity-acquired pneumonia. Patients were included in the study if they we re aged >65 years or had failed a previous course of antibacterial the rapy. The duration of treatment was 10 days. The overall efficacy rate s for the sparfloxacin and amoxycillin plus ofloxacin treatment groups were 91.9% and 81.5%, respectively, in evaluable patients at the end of treatment. Age or prior failure of antibacterial therapy did not af fect the overall success rate of sparfloxacin. The safety profile of s parfloxacin was similar to that of the antibacterial combination. This study demonstrated that sparfloxacin given once daily is a suitable t herapy for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in the elderl y or in patients with failure of previous antibiotic therapy.