Cefetamet pivoxil in paediatric patients suffering from lower respiratory tract infections.

A prospective, randomized comparative trial was carried out in 31 children suffering from lower respiratory tract infections, mainly bronchopneumonia or pneumonia. Twenty-one children received oral cefetamet pivoxil in a dose of 20 mg/kg/day (10 children) or 40 mg/kg/day (11 children), and 10 children 30 mg cefaclor/kg/day for 7 days. Clinical signs and symptoms, i.e. fever, dyspnoea, altered breath sounds and cough, subsided during treatment with both cefetamet pivoxil treatment doses in all patients. All X-ray findings and blood leucocytosis normalized, while 1 out of the 10 children to whom 30 mg cefaclor/kg/day was administered deteriorated from bronchopneumonia to pneumonitis during treatment. Treatment was stopped due to vomiting in 1 patient receiving the 40 mg cefetamet pivoxil/kg/day dose.