Severe pneumococcal pneumonia: impact of new quinolones on prognosis

Retrospective study of consecutive patients admitted in a 16-bed general intensive care unit (ICU), between January 1996 and January 2009, for severe (Pneumonia Severity Index > or = 4) community-acquired pneumonia due to non penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and treated with a β-lactam combined with a fluoroquinolone.We included 70 patients of whom 38 received a β-lactam combined with ofloxacin or ciprofloxacin and 32 combined with levofloxacin. Twenty six patients (37.1%) died in the ICU. Three independent factors associated with decreased survival in ICU were identified: septic shock on ICU admission (AOR = 10.6; 95% CI 2.87-39.3; p = 0.0004), age > 70 yrs. (AOR = 4.88; 95% CI 1.41-16.9; p = 0.01) and initial treatment with a β-lactam combined with ofloxacin or ciprofloxacin (AOR = 4.1; 95% CI 1.13-15.13; p = 0.03).Our results suggest that, when combined to a β-lactam, levofloxacin is associated with lower mortality than ofloxacin or ciprofloxacin in severe pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia.Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading causative agent of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Despite new antimicrobial agents and advances in supportive measures, attributable mortality linked to pneumococcal pneumonia remains unchanged and dramatically high when patient are admitted in intensive care units (ICU) [1].Most guidelines have been proposing, for more than 15 years, a combination of a β-lactam with either a quinolone or a macrolide as empirical, first-line therapy of severe CAP requiring ICU admission [2-8]. Although a recent study demonstrated combination antibiotic therapy to be associated with a higher survival rate than monotherapy in patients with severe CAP and shock [9], the rationale for this combination was not to increase efficacy but rather to routinely provide coverage of all common pathogens causing severe CAP and particularly, S. pneumoniae and Legionella species.In our ICU, we followed until 2003 the 1991 French recommendations [