Treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis with ciprofloxacin.

Thirty four patients with acute purulent exacerbations of chronic bronchitis were treated with 500 mg ciprofloxacin twice daily, orally, for ten days. Short time cure rate was 97% (cure 71%, improvement 26%) and failure 3%, long time cure rate (six months follow-up) was 74%. Predominant initial pathogens were Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, mostly in pure cultures. All sputum cultures except those with Streptococcus pneumoniae became negative on the third day of treatment. Apart from a slower clearance of pneumococci from sputum there were no significant differences in responses between pneumococcal and Haemophilus infections during and after therapy. Mild adverse gastrointestinal effects were noticed in five patients.