Single-Dose Treatment of Uncomplicated Acute Gonococcal Urethritis in Ethiopian Men: Comparison of Rosoxacin, Spectinomycin, Penicillin, and Ampicillin

• Published in: Sexually transmitted diseases 1987-07, Vol.14 (3), p.153-155
• Main Authors: HABTE-GABR, EYASSU, GEYID, ABERA, SERDO, DIBABA, BIDDLE, JAMES, PERINE, PETER L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 4-Quinolones; Ampicillin - administration & dosage; Anti-Infective Agents; Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Clinical Trials as Topic; Ethiopia; Gonorrhea - drug therapy; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Original Articles; Penicillin G - administration & dosage; Penicillin G Procaine - administration & dosage; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Probenecid - administration & dosage; Quinolines - administration & dosage; Quinolones; Random Allocation; Spectinomycin - administration & dosage; Urethritis - drug therapy; Urethritis - etiology
• ISSN: 0148-5717; 1537-4521
• DOI: 10.1097/00007435-198707000-00006

A total of 140 Ethiopian men with gonococcal urethritis were randomly assigned to treatment with aqueous procaine penicillin G (4.8 × 10⁶ units intramuscularly [im] plus 1.0 g of oral probenicid); oral ampicillin (3.5 g plus 1.0 g of oral probenicid); spectinomycin (2.0 g im); or oral rosoxacin (Acrosoxacin; 300 mg). Failure rates were 24%, 19%, zero, and 3%, respectively. Forty-four (31.4%) patients were infected with penicillinaseproducing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) and were evenly distributed in the treatment groups. All 39 PPNG strains analyzed for plasmid content possessed a 2.6-Mdalton plasmid; 28 (71.8%) had a 3.2-Mdalton β-lactamase-encoding plasmid, ten (25.6%) had a 4.4-Mdalton plasmid (three with and seven without a 24.5-Mdalton plasmid), and one had only a 24.5Mdalton plasmid. Two patients were infected with N. gonorrhoeae-possessing plasmids apparently capable of encoding but not producing β-lactamase. Both spectinomycin and rosoxacin are excellent single-dose treatment regimens for gonococcal urethritis in men. All people receiving these drugs in Ethiopia should be tested serologically for syphilis, however, as eight (11.8%) of 68 men in this study also had active latent syphilis.