Empiric treatment of community-acquired pneumonia with fluoroquinolones, and delays in the treatment of tuberculosis.

Community-acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis: differential diagnosis and the use of fluoroquinolones.

The respiratory fluoroquinolones moxifloxacin, gemifloxacin, and high-dose levofloxacin are recommended in guidelines for effective empirical antimicrobial therapy of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The use of these antibiotics for this indication in areas with a high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) has been questioned due to the perception that they contribute both to delays in the diagnos...

Initial empiric antimicrobial treatment of Chlamydia pneumoniae: a study of 54 cases in the Republic of Macedonia.

UNLABELLED Analysis of the adequacy of the initial empiric antimicrobial treatment of patients with acute Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) infection, admitted to the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Clinical Centre, Medical Faculty, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, for community-acquired pneumonia. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total number of 407 patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) hospitalized at t...

Diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.

Patients with community-acquired pneumonia often present with cough, fever, chills, fatigue, dyspnea, rigors, and pleuritic chest pain. When a patient presents with suspected community-acquired pneumonia, the physician should first assess the need for hospitalization using a mortality prediction tool, such as the Pneumonia Severity Index, combined with clinical judgment. Consensus guidelines fr...

Should fluoroquinolones be first-line antibiotics in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in areas with high incidence of tuberculosis?

Fluoroquinolone use delays tuberculosis treatment despite immediate mycobacteriology study.

Despite its excellent activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis [1], empirical fluoroquinolone (FQ) therapy has been associated with delayed initiation of appropriate treatment [2–4] and acquired resistance [5, 6] in tuberculosis (TB) patients presenting as community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). A previous study conducted in intensive care unit revealed immediate mycobacteriology study may possi...