Double-Blind Trial of SF-837 in the Treatment of Respiratory Infections

Abstract

SF-837 is a new macrolide antibiotic isolated from the culture broth of Streptomyces mycarofaciens nov. sp. Results of the fundamental studies reported so far indicate that its antimicrobial antivity, absorption, distribution and excretion are quite similar to those of other macrolides. This paper describes the clinical results of comparative double-blind studies on SF-837 and kitasamycin in the treatment of respiratory infections such as acute tonsillitis, acute bronchitis and bacterial pneumonia. The satisfactory results were obtained in 61 paptients of 73 in the SF-837 group (83.6%) and in 62 patients of 77 in the kitasamycin group (80.5%). Statistical analysis of the obtained results revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups. (p<0.05, x2=0.356) Generally, the most frequent side effect of macrolide antibiotics is gastrointestinal disturbance, the patients, therefore, were observed with a special attention to this point. As a result, gastrointestinal disturbances were observed in 6 out of 77 cases in the kitasamycin group and only one out of 73 cases in the SF-837 group. From the above results, SF-837 can be considered to be an effective antibiotic comparative to kitasamycin.