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Treatment of pneumococcal infection
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
In severe cases, antibiotics are prescribed.
- For mild and moderate forms (nasopharyngitis, bronchitis, otitis, etc.), phenoxymethylpenicillin (vepicombin) can be prescribed at 5,000-100,000 U/kg per day in 4 doses orally or penicillin at the same dose 3 times a day intramuscularly for 5-7 days.
- Patients with lobar pneumonia or meningitis are prescribed cephalosporin, a new antibiotic of the third or fourth generation. During antibiotic treatment, it is advisable to check the sensitivity of the isolated pneumococci to the prescribed drug and replace it if necessary. Along with antibacterial therapy, probiotic treatment is carried out (Acipol, etc.). In the last 2 years, strains of pneumococci resistant to many antibiotics have increasingly been isolated. To enhance the effect of antibacterial therapy, it is recommended to prescribe the polyenzyme drug Wobenzym.
In severe forms of pneumococcal infection, in addition to antibiotics, infusion, pathogenetic, restorative and symptomatic therapy is prescribed, the principles of which are the same as for other infectious diseases.
Forecast
In pneumococcal meningitis, the mortality rate is about 10-20% (in the pre-antibiotic era - 100%). In other forms of the disease, fatal cases are rare. They occur, as a rule, in children with congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, long-term treatment with immunosuppressive drugs, in children with congenital deformities.