Treatment of acute tonsillo-pharyngitis: a comparative study of spiramycin and erythromycin.

A comparative study was carried out to determine the clinical efficacy of spiramycin and erythromycin in the treatment of acute tonsillo-pharyngitis. Patients were allocated at random to receive either 500 mg spiramycin 3-times daily for 3 days or 500 mg erythromycin 3-times daily for 5 days. Details were recorded daily by patients of subjective complaints such as fever, sore throat and difficulty in swallowing, and objective signs and symptoms of inflammation were assessed by the physician before and after treatment. Results were analyzed for 32 patients in each group and showed both treatments resulted in a rapid relief of their clinical condition in over 90% of patients. Although all patients showed marked improvements, a few still complained of symptoms at the end of the treatment period. Neither treatment regimen proved adequate for the eradication of the initial pathogen identified from throat swab cultures and leucocytosis persisted in at least 1 patient in each group. Seven patients on erythromycin complained of nausea and/or epigastric pain and 1 patient on spiramycin had urticaria.