Evaluation of safety and efficacy of azithromycin in lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI).

Azithromycin was given to 55 cases of lower respiratory tract infections in the doses of 500 mg on day 1, followed by 250 mg on days 2-5. It produced bacteriological cure in 70.8% patients and clinical cure or improvement in 69.09% of patients. 4.27% of patients had throat colonisation with new organisms, of which 9.09% needed a second antibiotic. The drug was well tolerated and minor side effects were noted. Gastrointestinal disturbances (16.36%) headache and giddiness (14.55%), rash (3.64%) were the noted side effects. Reduction of platelet count by 50% occurred in 12.29% of the cases compared to 0.2% reported earlier. But this thrombocytopenia was clinically not significant, as it did not cause any symptoms.