For the treatment of pneumonia, doctors often use macrolides in otherwise healthy people, under the age of 60. Most causes of bacterial infections of the lower respiratory tract are well dealt with, by the macrolides. Macrolides may also be a substitute for penicillin in case the patient is allergic to it.
Uncommon causes of the pneumonia are also treated with macrolides in people with chronic health problems and people that passed the age of 60.
Macrolides are effective against a great variety of bacteria. Generally, all types of antibiotics have an increased rate of curing pneumonia. Those rates range from 73 to 96 percents for people treated in hospitals and above 90 percents for people treated outside hospitals.
Improvement should be seen within 2 or 3 days from the beginning of the treatment. Usually, antibiotics are prescribed by the doctors for the bacterial pneumonia, the most common forms encountered. The treatment isn't changed unless the condition worsens or shows no improve and is taken in 5-14 days or even more if the patient has an affected immune system.
Macrolides show sign effects like:
Erythromycin should not be taken together with some other common medications because, as a very large recent study shows, the risk for cardiac sudden death is increased. The common medications that increase this risk are those that inhibit certain liver enzymes – some calcium channel blockers, some antidepressants or certain antifungal medications.
Less side effects than the erythromycin present azithromycin and clarithromycin, which are also effective against a great number of bacteria but are more expensive than the erythromycin. Those medications may be preferred for those people who are older than 60 or suffer from other health problems.
The categories of people that may be best suited for azithromycin and clarithromycin treatments are:
Macrolides are effective also against the infections of the lower respiratory tract caused by the legionella pneumophila, the bacteria that is also responsible for the Legionnaires' disease.
If pneumonia or bronchitis are treated with azithromycin, the medication is administered for only five days because it has a long lasting action.