Use of a new erythromycin product--eryc--in the treatment of the lower respiratory tract infections.

Eryc therapy was used in 27 patients admitted with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive bronchitis, and in 4 patients with pneumonia. Depending on the severity of the condition the dose of the drug was 4 x 500 mg or, in a lower number of cases, 4 x 250 mg. The effectivity of therapy was evaluated on the basis of the changes in the quality of sputum, elimination of facultative pathogens identified from sputum at admittance, clinical symptoms, respiratory function values, blood gas values, and, in case of pneumonia, improvement of chest X-ray finding. Eryc therapy proved to be effective in 78.6% of the cases. Side-effects were observed in 25.8% of the cases but the therapy had to be discontinued because of the severity of unwanted effects only in 3 patients (9.7%). The change of the method of drug administration-intake during meals-did not decrease the frequency of side-effects when compared to Hungarian data. On the basis of our results Eryc therapy was found to be useful for the treatment of the lower respiratory tract, community-acquired infections.