- Amoxycillin 30 mg/kg orally 3 times a day for 5 days in children with mild community-acquired pneumonia that is treated at home.
- Intramuscular ampicillin 20 mg/kg before referring a child with severe pneumonia. In hospital, ampicillin and gentamicin, or cefotaxime (or ceftriaxone) are usually used. The choice of antibiotic may change when the sputum and blood cultures and sensitivities are received.
- Cloxacillin 50 mg/kg/dose orally 6 hourly is given if Staphylococcus is suspected.
- Hospital-acquired pneumonia may be due to organisms resistant to many antibiotics.
- Search for tuberculosis if there is no response to antibiotics.
Erythromycin or co-trimoxazole are the antibiotics of choice if Mycoplasma pneumonia is suspected in older children (5 years or older). Additional co-trimoxazole 6 hourly in high doses is used to treat suspected Pneumocystis pneumonia in HIV infected children.