Treatment of community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections with oral cefuroxime axetil.

The subjects were adult hospitalized patients, 12 with pneumonia and eight with acute bronchitis. The patients with pneumonia received 500 mg of cefuroxime orally twice daily and the patients with bronchitis received 250 mg twice daily. Treatment lasted for ten days in responsive patients. The pathogens identified in the patients' sputum were Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, or Branhamella catarrhalis. Clinical and bacteriologic cures were achieved in 11 of the 12 patients with pneumonia and in seven of the eight patients with bronchitis. It is concluded that cefuroxime axetil is safe and effective in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia or acute bronchitis.