tetracycline and erythromycin-stearate

The antibacterial efficacy and tolerability of erythromycin acistrate (EA) and erythromycin stearate (ES) were compared in 100 male patients with non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU). The dosage of EA was 400 mg tid and that of ES 500 mg tid. Mean duration of treatment was ten days. When the final evaluation of the trial was made, the patient material was divided into two groups. One group consisted of patients with chlamydia-positive culture before treatment, the other of chlamydia-negative patients with signs of infection in the direct smear. There were 17 patients with chlamydial infection in the EA-group, and the microbiological cure rate was 100%. In the ES-group there were 21 patients with chlamydial infection and the microbiological cure rate was 95%. In the EA-group, the cure rate of chlamydia-negative NGU patients was 78%, and the corresponding figure in the ES-group was 86%. There was no difference in the cure rates between the two groups on either drug. In the EA-group, 25 patients (50%) reported side effects, in 22 these were gastrointestinal. In the ES-group, 26 patients (52%) reported side effects; in 22 these were gastrointestinal. Two patients in the EA-group discontinued the treatment because of gastrointestinal side effects. There were no differences between the groups in the frequency, severity and duration of side effects.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Chlamydia Infections; Erythromycin; Humans; Male; Prodrugs; Tetracycline; Urethritis

Eighty one children aged between 1 and 13 years participated in a randomised comparative trial of tetracycline hydrochloride and erythromycin stearate for treatment of Mediterranean spotted fever. Both therapeutic regimens proved effective, but in patients treated with tetracycline both clinical symptoms and fever disappeared significantly more quickly. Likewise, when those patients who began treatment within the first 72 hours of illness are considered the febrile period had a significantly shorter duration in the group treated with tetracycline. One patient was switched to tetracycline because there was no improvement of clinical manifestations, with persistence of fever, myalgias, and prostration, after receiving eight days of treatment with erythromycin. These results suggest that tetracyclines are superior to erythromycin in the treatment of Mediterranean spotted fever.

Topics: Adolescent; Boutonneuse Fever; Child; Child, Preschool; Clinical Trials as Topic; Erythromycin; Female; Humans; Infant; Male; Random Allocation; Tetracycline; Time Factors

A total of 113 women thought to have chlamydial infection of the lower genital tract were studied prospectively to evaluate the effect of antibiotic treatment on antibodies to chlamydiae detected by microimmunofluorescence. Of them, 81 were randomly selected for treatment with a two week course of either triple tetracycline or erythromycin stearate, and 32 who had microimmunofluorescent antibodies to, but did not yield cultures for, chlamydiae were used as controls and left untreated. Results for the treated patients showed that 22 (27%) had at least a fourfold fall in the microimmunofluorescent titre, but there was a similar rise in titre in 14 (17%), and the titre remained unaltered in 45 (56%) patients. In the control group 10 (31%) patients had at least a fourfold fall in titre, but there was a similar rise in titre in seven (22%), and it remained unaltered in 15 (47%) patients. The differences between these percentages in treated and untreated patients were not significant.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Antibodies, Bacterial; Chlamydia Infections; Erythromycin; Female; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Genital Diseases, Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Tetracycline

Using prescription-event monitoring to determine whether erythromycin estolate was a more frequent cause of jaundice than erythromycin stearate or tetracycline 12 208 patients, for whom 5343 doctors had prescribed one of the three drugs, were identified by the Prescription Pricing Authority. Of the questionnaires sent to general practitioners about the possible occurrence of jaundice, 76% were returned. There were 16 reports of jaundice, of which four were attributable to gall stones, three to cancer, six to viral hepatitis, and only three were possibly related to an antibiotic. All three patients, in whom the antibiotic was a possible cause, had been treated with erythromycin stearate. No case was attributable to the estolate which had previously been suspected of being a more frequent cause of jaundice. Although the incidence is unknown, it is very unlikely to be more than one in 100.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Erythromycin; Erythromycin Estolate; Female; Humans; Jaundice; Male; Middle Aged; Tetracycline