Daily Single-Dose Regimen and Alternate-Two-Week Triple-Dose/Day Regimen of Oral Ofloxacin for the Prophylaxis and Control of Exacerbations of Chronic Respiratory Tract Infections

Two different oral ofloxacin regimens, a daily single-dose regimen with 200mg (Regimen I) and an every-two-week multidose regimen with 3×200 mg/day (Regimen II) was compared as to the efficacy in controlling repeated acute exacerbations of chronic respiratory tract infections. Fifty-eight patients consisting of 19 patients each of bronchiectasis and pulmonary emphysema, 10 patients of chronic bronchitis, 5 patients of old pulmonary tuberculosis, 4 patients of diffuse panbronchiolitis and 1 patient of multiple pulmonary bullae were evaluated: 32 patients in Regimen I and 26 patients in Regimen II. The corrected mean incidence of exacerbations per case decreased from pre-study 2.47 to intra-study 0.59 in Regimen I, and from pre-study 2.66 to intra-study 0.95 in Regimen II, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (p<0.05, respectively). Only one of 12 persistent isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa acquired a certain degree of resistance to ofloxacin. Adverse reactions were found in six of 66 patients. We conclude that long-term administration of an new-quinolone, especially a daily single-dose regimen with ofloxacin, is useful to control acute exacerbations of chronic repiratory tract infections.