Macrolide therapy for community-acquired pneumonia due to atypical pathogens: outcome assessment at an early time point.
80 and over; Adult; Aged; Anti-Bacterial Agents/adverse effects/*therapeutic use; Atypical pathogen; Bacterial/*drug therapy; Ceftaroline fosamil; Ceftriaxone/adverse effects/*therapeutic use; Cephalosporins/adverse effects/*therapeutic use; Chlamydial Pneumonia; Chlamydophila pneumoniae; Clinical Trials; Combination/adverse effects/methods; Community-Acquired Infections/*drug therapy; Community-acquired pneumonia; Double-Blind Method; Drug Therapy; Female; Humans; Legionella pneumophila; Macrolide; Macrolides/adverse effects/*therapeutic use; Male; Middle Aged; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasma pneumoniae; Phase III as Topic; Pneumonia; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome
BACKGROUND: Therapy directed against atypical pathogens in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is often recommended. This post-hoc analysis evaluated the effect of addition of a macrolide to ceftaroline fosamil or ceftriaxone treatment in atypical CAP. METHODS: Two phase 3, double-blind, comparative safety and efficacy studies of ceftaroline fosamil vs. ceftriaxone, FOCUS 1 and FOCUS 2, enrolled adults with CAP. Only FOCUS 1 included 24-h adjunctive clarithromycin therapy for all patients on day 1. Day 4 and test-of-cure (TOC) outcomes were compared for adjunctive vs. no adjunctive therapy. RESULTS: Of 1240 enrolled patients, 130 patients with CAP due to atypical pathogens alone were included (FOCUS 1, n = 64; FOCUS 2, n = 66). Among patients infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae and/or Chlamydophila pneumoniae alone, a higher clinical response rate was observed with clarithromycin plus ceftaroline fosamil or ceftriaxone compared with treatment without additional clarithromycin at day 4 [38/49 (77.6%; FOCUS 1) vs. 24/43 (55.8%; FOCUS 2)], but not at the TOC assessment [42/49 (85.7%; FOCUS 1) vs. 41/43 (95.3%; FOCUS 2)]. In patients infected with Legionella pneumophila alone, a higher clinical response rate with adjunctive clarithromycin therapy was observed at the TOC assessment alone [12/12 (100%; FOCUS 1) vs. 14/19 (73.7%; FOCUS 2)]. The unadjusted odds ratio of a favourable clinical response at day 4 with adjunctive clarithromycin vs. no adjunctive clarithromycin was 2.4 (95% confidence interval 1.1-5.1; P = 0.0299) for all pathogens combined. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that empirical antibiotic therapy against atypical pathogens may improve early clinical response rate. This hypothesis is best evaluated in a prospective trial.
File Thomas M Jr; Eckburg Paul B; Talbot George H; Llorens Lily; Friedland H David
International journal of antimicrobial agents
2017
2017-08
Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2017.01.043" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2017.01.043</a>
Role of 'atypical' pneumonia pathogens in respiratory tract infections.
Humans; Chlamydophila pneumoniae; Legionella pneumophila; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Community-Acquired Infections; Chlamydia Infections; Pneumonia; Bacterial/diagnosis/*microbiology; Mycoplasma/diagnosis/*microbiology
The 'atypical' pathogens are important causes of pneumonia, causing illness ranging from mild to life-threatening. The most common atypical pathogens are Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae; others include Legionella species, Chlamydia psittaci and viruses such as influenza, adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus. Infection rates for these agents are difficult to determine because many clinicians and investigators do not routinely test for them, but reported rates are in the range of up to 8% (for C pneumoniae) and 15% to 20% (M pneumoniae) of all cases of pneumonia. Diagnostic testing is very difficult because most of these agents cannot be easily cultured. Diagnosis relies on either high acute antibody titres (quickly available but not very accurate) or paired serology samples (more accurate but requires at least a week). While rapid identification using automated polymerase chain reaction testing may be possible in the future, current management is based largely on empirical treatment.
Tan J S
Canadian respiratory journal
1999
1999-02
Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).