Ketek Ò ’better than other antibiotics’ used in children with respiratory infections.
Community acquired respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are the most common infections treated by healthcare practitioners, responsible for 50 million deaths a year worldwide. KETEK(R) (telithromycin), the first ketolide antibacterial approved for clinical use, is more active than several commonly prescribed antibiotics for the treatment of paediatric, community-acquired RTIs.
PROTEKT (Prospective Resistant Organism Tracking and Epidemiology of the Ketolide Telithromycin) data presented at the 12th Annual European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) showed that KETEK was highly active in vitro against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenze isolates. These bacterial strains, most often associated with paediatric RTIs, are resistant to penicillin and the macrolide antibiotic erythromycin. KETEK, launched in October in Germany by Aventis is not yet approved for use in children. It is available in such countries as Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and Italy.
Keywords : Ketolide antibacterial antibiotic Ketek Aventis Pediatric community acquired RTI
