Guideline 59 - Supporting Material: Annex 1: Antibiotic dosage and costs

Guideline 59: Community management of lower respiratory tract infection in adults - Supporting material

Annex 1: Antibiotic dosage and costs

Dose and cost range obtained from the British National Formulary, September 2001. No account is taken of the cost/benefit ratio. Where available, cost of the non-proprietory preparation is given. All antibiotics are given by the oral route.

Antibiotic	Recommended Doses^#	Cost (based on one week)
AMINOPENICILLINS
amoxicillin*	500mg tds	£1.10
amoxicillin clavulanic acid	625mg tds	£15.72
MACROLIDES
erythromycin	500mg qds	£6.16
clarithromycin	500mg bd	£22.49
azithromycin	500mg daily for 3 days	£10.99
TETRACYCLINES
tetracycline	250mg - 500mg qds	£1.92
doxycycline	200mg daily	£4.36
QUINOLONES
ciprofloxacin**	500mg bd	£19.88
ofloxacin**	400mg twice daily	£28.60
levofloxacin***	500mg od	£19.46

* The recommended dose is increased to 1g tds where there is a potential for infection with penicillin resistant pneumococci.
** Not recommended as first line treatment for pneumonia in view of relatively poor activity against pneumococci.
*** Higher dosage recommended in pneumonia (1g).

Key
tds: three times daily
qds: four times daily
bd: twice daily
od: once daily

# Of the dosage range recommended in the BNF, the highest dose has usually been taken to try and reduce emergence of resistant.