Important role of etiotropic therapy in bacterial intestinal infections in children

Background. Under the conditions of growing antimicrobial resistance, etiotropic therapy of intestinal infections is one of the most difficult issues of therapy in the practice of a pediatrician, infectious disease specialist, and gastroenterologist. Objective. Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of nifuroxazide in children with acute intestinal infections of various etiologies. Methods. From June 2020 to January 2021, retrospective single-center study with participation of 200 children with acute intestinal infections of various etiologies was conducted at the Pediatric Research and Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases of the FMBA of Russia. The study group included patients who were prescribed the intestinal antiseptic nifuroxazide for therapeutic purposes. The results of the therapeutic use of the drug by the patients were evaluated based on the dynamics of clinical manifestations, as well as changes in the coprograms and the composition of the intestinal microbiota. Results. On the background of the therapy, most patients showed a rapid recovering. The mean length of hospital stay was 4.9 days. Nifuroxazide was used for an average of 4.2 days. Diarrheal syndrome in the study group lasted for 1.8 days. Normalization of temperature in most patients occurred already on the 2nd day from the moment of hospitalization. No serious side effect of the drug nifuroxazide was observed during the entire time period included in the analysis. None of the patients developed antibiotic-associated diarrhea. None of the patients was re-admitted to the Pediatric Research and Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases of the FMBA of Russia during the calendar year after discharge. Conclusion. Thus, the drug nifuroxazide is a safe and effective modern drug that can successfully replace systemic antibiotics in the initial treatment of mild to moderate acute intestinal infections. The study confirms the high safety and good tolerability of nifuroxazide in the treatment of children of all age groups.

acute intestinal infections, infectious diarrhea, antimicrobial agents, antibiotic sensitivity, nifuroxazide