Abstract
Objective: Uncomplicated skin infections are considered a frequent clinical issue. Most of them are induced by staphylococcus and streptococcus. Various oral antibiotics are administered with similar efficiency but with different management period, price and side effects. Azithromycin is used in adults conventionally in a dose of 500 mg once for 5 days. To assess if a single oral 2 g administration dose of azithromycin could cause a therapeutical effect similar to traditional single oral dosing of 500 mg daily for 5 days in adults.
Methods: This randomized and prospective investigation included adult subjects, of both gender and presenting with uncomplicated skin infections at King Hussein hospital. King Hussein medical center, Amman, Jordan, during the period Feb 2012-Mar 2015,after obtaining written informed consent from all participants .All patients were divided into two groups. Group I (n = 146) patients received a 2 g single oral dose and group II patients (n = 146) received a traditional oral dose of 500 mg once daily for 5 days. Adherence was related to the number of tablets taken. Complete clinical healing defines complete healing of lesions with no residual signs or symptoms within 7 days. Normal distributed numerical parameters were compared between groups by Student's t-test or by Mann-Whitney U-test, if abnormal distributed. Pearson's Chi-square test was used for intergroup comparison of categorical parameters. Statistical significance was scored if P < 0.05.
Results: Increased healing rate was recorded in 97.97% in group I and in 98.63% in group II, with improvement in symptoms from the start of treatment but without statistical significance difference between the two groups
Conclusion: Single 2 g oral azithromycin dose caused the same outcome as traditional azithromycin dosing in uncomplicated skin infections with similar tolerability and with adherence .