Linezolid for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in children

According to scientists at Texas Children's Hospital (Houston), linezolid may be an alternative to vancomycin in the treatment of serious infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-positive cocci. The results of a study by American scientists were published in the May issue of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.

The safety, good tolerability, pharmacokinetic parameters and efficacy of a new antibiotic from the oxazalidine group, according to the researchers, make linezolid a drug which may be recommended for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in children with hospital.

Scientists at the Linezolid Pediatric Pneumonia Study Group conducted a multicentre open-label phase II study of the efficacy of linezolid in children aged 12 months to 17 years (mean age 3 years) hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia. 78 children were given linezolid iv and then transferred to oral administration. Linezolid was administered at a dose of 10 mg / kg every 12 hours. The efficacy of the treatment was evaluated 7 to 14 days after the last dose. Until the end of the study, 66 children were observed. The average duration of treatment was 12.2 days (6 to 41 days).

Full recovery was observed in 61 children. In one patient from whom S. aureus resistant to methicillin was isolated, treatment failure was observed and in 4 patients it was not possible to assess the efficacy of treatment. The researchers note that 45 of the 78 patients (57.7%) who participated in the study reported side effects. The most common diarrhea (10.3%), neutropenia (6.4%) and increased ALT levels (6.4%).

Linezolid may be an alternative to vancomycin in the treatment of serious infections caused by gram-positive cocci, especially methicillin-resistant S.aureus and enterococcus-resistant bacteria, researchers say vancomycin.