A Study to Compare the Efficacy and Safety of Levofloxacin in the Treatment of Children With Community-acquired Pneumonia in the Hospital or Outpatient Setting

This is a multicenter study to determine the efficacy of levofloxacin compared with the "standard of care" (antibiotic medication commonly used for the treatment of infection in question) in treating community acquired pneumonia in children aged 6 months to 16 years. The study consists of 4 phases: a 1-day screening period when patients will be tested for eligibility for the study; 10-day treatment, blood collection, and evaluation period; a post-treatment period beginning 1 to 3 days after the last dose of the study medication; and a post-study period 10 to 17 days after the last dose of study medication to assess whether the patient has been cured of pneumonia. Patients will be divided into 2 groups based upon age and then randomly assigned to receive up to 10 days of either levofloxacin or another antibiotic. The patients in Group 1 will be randomly assigned to levofloxacin or amoxicillin/clavulanate. The patients in Group 2 will be randomly assigned to receive levofloxacin or either ceftriaxone plus erythromycin lactobionate or clarithromycin. Safety evaluations will include laboratory tests, physical examinations, vital sign measurements, and recording of adverse events, including any adverse events affecting muscles or bones. Efficacy assessments include whether the patient was cured of pneumonia based on signs and symptoms of pneumonia reported before the start of the study. Additionally, at both the post-therapy and the post-study visits, responses will be evaluated by patients' signs and symptoms and by microscopic examination of the bacteria identified at the start of the study. The study hypothesis is that the treatment with levofloxacin will be effective in the treatment of children aged 6 months to 16 years with community acquired pneumonia and wil be well tolerated by the patients. Levofloxacin 10 mg/kg once or twice daily, amoxicillin/clavulanate 22.5 mg/kg twice daily, ceftriaxone 25 mg/kg twice daily plus erythromycin lactobionate 10 mg/kg every 6 hours or clarithromycin 7.5 mg/kg twice daily, either intravenously or by mouth for up to 10 days.