A group of Swiss scientists in a recent study compared a 3-day course of azithromycin with a 10-day course of phenoxymethylpenicillin in the treatment of tonsillopharyngitis caused by group A β-hemolytic streptococcus (GABA). In addition, the researchers sought the answer to the question of whether viral infection and carriage of HBSS in patients and adults directly in contact with them affect the clinical and bacteriological effectiveness of the therapy.

To solve these problems, a multicentre randomized open comparative study was conducted, in which the administration of a suspension of azithromycin at a dose of 10 mg / kg / day for 3 days was compared to a course of 10 days of phenoxymethylpenicillin as a suspension in children with acute tonsillopharyngitis, caused by BGSA, and the daily dose of 100,000 IU / kg of penicillin was prescribed in three divided doses. In addition to evaluating the clinical and bacteriological efficacy of the therapy, patients recurred within 6 months of the recurrence of symptoms of the disease and the recurrence of the infection caused by HBSS.

The study involved 292 children aged 2 to 12 years old. A positive clinical result (recovery or improvement) in both cases was similar at the end of treatment on day 14 (azithromycin - 95%, phenoxymethylpenicillin - 97%) and on day 28 (azithromycin - 94%, phenoxymethylpenicillin - 95%). The eradication of HBSS was significantly lower with azithromycin (day 14: azithromycin - 38%, phenoxymethylpenicillin - 81%, p less than 0.001; day 28: azithromycin - 31%, phenoxymethylpenicillin - 68%, p less than 0.001). Furthermore, the reduced eradication of microorganisms with the use of azithromycin was not the result of a concomitant viral infection in the patient, or of the carriage of BHCA in the patient or an adult in contact with him , or reduced sensitivity of BHCA, isolated before starting treatment, to prescribed antibacterial drugs. The tolerability of the two antibiotics during the study was satisfactory.

Thus, according to the results of the study, high clinical efficacy was observed during treatment with the two drugs, while the eradication of microorganisms was significantly lower when prescribing azithromycin than phenoxymethylpenicillin.