The effect of macrolides on the duration of fever in children with respiratory tract infections caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Infections caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae are very common community-acquired respiratory tract infections in children. Researchers from Taiwan conducted a retrospective study to assess clinical and demographic data and compare the results of mycoplasma therapy in children with antibiotic therapy containing macrolides and without macrolides.

The study included information from the backgrounds of 139 children aged 8 months to 12 years who sought treatment at the Taipei Hospital for respiratory infections from January 2004 to December 31, 2005 and who had serum during hospitalization, IgM antibodies to M. have been detected. pneumoniae. Patients were not included in the study in the presence of concomitant bacteremia or a positive test for the determination of the pneumococcal antigen in the urine. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to whether or not they received macrolides during hospitalization: for example, 74 patients received azithromycin at a dose of 10 mg / kg per day for 3 days and 5 patients received erythromycin (40 mg / kg / day for 7 days).

Respiratory tract infection caused by M. pneumoniae, most commonly recorded in September, October and March. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms when seeking medical attention. The duration of fever was found to be significantly shorter in the macrolide group compared to the control (4.9 ± 1.89 days and 5.63 ± 2.22 days, respectively, p = 0.037), and between the groups receiving azithromycin and erythromycin, did not differ statistically significantly.

Thus, the use of macrolides leads to a reduction in the duration of fever in children with respiratory infections caused by M. pneumoniae.