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Most children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are initially treated with intravenous antibiotics. To see whether initial oral antibiotics are safe, researchers examined the records of ≈400 children (mean age, 3 years) admitted to four U.S. hospitals for CAP who started with oral antibiotics (usually amoxicillin). Children who had complex medical conditions, required initial ICU care, or had moderate-to-large pleural effusions were excluded.
Three fourths of the children did not later switch to intravenous (IV) antibiotics or experience pneumonia-related complications (e.g., escalation in respiratory support, pneumonia-related readmission/emergency department revisit within 7 days of discharge).
Twenty pe…