Telithromycin versus clarithromycin for the treatment of community-acquired respiratory tract infections: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Our findings indicate that oral telithromycin and clarithromycin have similar treatment efficacy and adverse effect. The advantages of lower antimicrobial resistance rates, once-daily short-duration dosing and reported lower health-care costs make oral telithromycin a useful option for the empiric management of mild-to-moderate RTIs.