Transgresiones en el uso clínico del cloranfenicol

Abstract

The use of chloramphenicol for outpatients of the social security institute of Colombia was studied over a 15 day period. Chloramphenicol was prescribed in eleven of the 35 Bogota's and Cundinamarca's ambulatory medical care centres. From these eleven centres 6,1% of the physicians accounted for the prescription. 101 patients received chloramphenicol and at most two of them had major indications for using it. In the rest of the patients the reasons for such prescription were often trivial as complicated upper respiratory viral infecctions, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, urinary tract infection, vaginal discharge, backache, including pregnant patients and some without any sign of infection at all. Furthermore the drug was often prescribed concomitantly with other antibiotics such as ampicillin, aminoglycosides, sulfa and even with phenilbutazone in 15 patiente. All of these uses were clearly inapropiate. The daily dose as well as the duration of the treatment were considered subtherapeutic in al1 the patients. The mean duration of treatment was 5,1 days and 98% of the patients received 1 mg or less per day.