Lopinavir is a protease inhibitor with high specificity for HIV-1 protease. Ritonavir strongly inhibits lopinavir metabolism; coadministration of lopinavir and ritonavir in healthy volunteers increased the area under the lopinavir plasma concentration-time curve >100-fold. Trough plasma concentration: antiviral 50% effective concentration ratio for lopinavir was >75 for wild-type HIV at the dose used in clinical trials, compared to values of < or = 4 for other commonly used protease inhibitors. Coformulated lopinavir and ritonavir (lopinavir/ ritonavir) 400/100mg twice daily for 48 weeks suppressed HIV replication in significantly more antiretroviral-naive patients than nelfinavir 750mg 3 times daily (all patients also received stavudine and lamivudine). Suppression of viral replication was observed in most protease inhibitor-experienced patients with lopinavir/ ritonavir (400/100, 400/200 or 533/133mg twice daily for 48 or 96 weeks) in combination with > or = 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and either efavirenz or nevirapine. 48 weeks of treatment with twice daily lopinavir/ ritonavir (230/57.5 or 300/75 mg/m2 for the first 12 weeks and then 300/75 mg/m2) in combination with 1 or2 NRTIs, with or without nevirapine, suppressed viral replication in the majority of antiretroviral-naive and -experienced paediatric patients (aged 6 months to 12 years). Diarrhoea, nausea and asthenia were the most frequently reported adverse effects in patients receiving lopinavir/ritonavir-based regimens. Elevated total cholesterol, triglyceride and hepatic enzyme levels were also reported.
The ESPGHAN guideline performs well in our population. Adoption of the guideline would reduce the number of patients requiring endoscopy without compromise in diagnostic accuracy. The involvement of pediatric gastroenterological expertise, however, remains key to diagnosis of CD.
Levofloxacin continues to demonstrate good clinical efficacy in the treatment of a range of infections, including those in which S. pneumoniae is a potential pathogen. Importantly, it has efficacy in CAP similar to that of gatifloxacin and at least as good as that of the third generation cephalosporins. Extensive clinical data confirm the good tolerability profile of this agent without the phototoxicity, hepatic and cardiac events evident with some of the other newer fluoroquinolone agents. Levofloxacin therefore offers a unique combination of documented efficacy and tolerability, and provides an important option for the treatment of bacterial infections.
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