COMPARISON OF THE CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF AZITHROMYCIN VERSUS CEFTRIAXONE IN TREATMENT OF ENTERIC FEVER

Introduction: Typhoid fever, an enteric bacterial infection caused by Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi; is a common and sometimes fatal infection caused in developing countries especially in south Asia because of poor sanitation and unclean water. Chloramphenicol, Ampicillin, Sulfamethoxazole– Trimethoprim and Tetracycline have been traditionally used in the therapy of Typhoid fever.

Objective: To compare Azithromycin versus Ceftriaxone in terms of mean time taken (in number of days) for defervesence in children with enteric fever.

Study design: Randomized controlled trial

Site and duration of study: This study was conducted in the in the Department of Pediatrics Medicine, Khalifa Gul Nawaz, Bannu from 20/03/2018 to 30/06/2018.

Methodology: A total of 140 patients of enteric fever were observed, which were divided in two equal groups.

Hypothesis: Azithromycin is better than Ceftriaxone in term of mean number of days for defervesence.

Sampling technique: Non probability consecutive sampling.

Results: Overall Male to female ratio was 1.61:1. Sex distribution among the groups was insignificant with p-value=0.366. The overall age of the patients was 5.47 years +2.38SD. Defervesence wise distribution shows that Group A have average defervesence of 4.39days +  1.12SD  while  in  Group  B  it  was  4.46  days+1.1017SD  which was insignificant with p-value = 0.693.

Conclusion: Mean defervesence time of azithromycin is better than ceftriaxone in the treatment of enteric fever

Key words: Enteric fever, Azithromycin, Ceftriaxone, defervesence.