Comparison of spiramycin with erythromycin for lower respiratory tract infections.

The efficacy and safety of 2 g oral spiramycin daily were compared with those of 2 g of oral erythromycin daily in a multicentre open prospective trial, involving 198 patients, with a mean age of 61.75 years, with a clinical and radiological diagnosis of acute lower respiratory tract infection. The diagnoses were: acute bronchitis (96), acute superinfection of chronic bronchitis (60) and pneumonia (42). The patients were assessed before therapy and after three and ten days of therapy. Seventy-four (76.3%) of the patients were cured in the spiramycin group and 64 (63.4%) were cured in the erythromycin group (P less than 0.05). Significantly more patients complained of side effects in the erythromycin group (41.4%) than in the spiramycin group (11.8%) P less than 0.001.