RESUMO
Thirty patients, 15 males and 15 females, were included in this study. Their ages ranged between 3.5 and 45 years with a median age of 26 years. They suffered from different acute lower respiratory tract infection. Azithromycin was given orally in a dose of 500 mg [2 capsules x 250 mg] once daily for adults and powder for oral suspension as 10 mg/kg once daily for children on 3 successive days. There were complete clinical cure in 22 patients [73.33 percent], marked improvement in 7 patients [23.33 percent] and failure in one patient [3.33 percent]. Eradication of the causative microorganism was reported in 27 cases [90 percent], two cases showed persistence [6.67 percent], one case showed superinfection [3.33 percent]. No adverse events were reported in any case. No significant differences of the laboratory parameters occurred when comparing pre and post treatment values. This study concluded that azithromycin is an effective, safe and well tolerated therapy for the treatment of acute lower respiratory tract infections