We made an open, noncomparative evaluation of
ofloxacin, 400 mg orally bid for 10 days, in 98 subjects with community-acquired
pneumonia or pathogen-confirmed
bronchitis. Thirty-nine (40%) of the subjects were treated in the hospital and 59 (60%) were treated as outpatients. The mean age of those treated was 56.2 years; 73 (74%) of the subjects either were more than 60 years old or had a history of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or both. There were 95 organisms initially isolated in sputum, aspirate, or lavage fluid; all were susceptible to
ofloxacin, and none acquired resistance during
therapy. Haemophilus influenzae was the most common pathogen (19 isolates), followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (18) and Staphylococcus aureus (10). Clinical responses included cure in 70 patients (71%), improvement in 26 (27%), and failure in two (2%). After 10 days of
therapy, pathogens persisted in two cases; in one case, Streptococcus salivarius was isolated, though it remained susceptible to
ofloxacin, and in the other, Klebsiella pneumoniae was accompanied by
superinfection due to a resistant strain of Serratia marcescens. We included in this study three confirmed cases of atypical
pneumonia successfully treated with
ofloxacin, two of them due to
Mycoplasma pneumonia and one to Legionella pneumophila.
Ofloxacin was well tolerated. Our data indicate that
ofloxacin is effective and safe as specific and empiric treatment for many lower
respiratory tract infections.