Treatment of bubonic plague with sulfonamides and antibiotics

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Pharmacology
• Microbiology

Background:

• Bubonic plague remains a significant threat, necessitating effective antimicrobial therapies.
• Early treatment is crucial for managing *Yersinia pestis* infections, particularly the septicemic form.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the curative efficacy of various antimicrobial agents against *Yersinia pestis* infection.
• To compare the clinical effectiveness of different treatments in human plague cases.

Main Methods:

• Laboratory mice infected with *Yersinia pestis* were treated with sulfathiazole, sulfapyridine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfadiazine, antiplague serum, penicillin, streptomycin, aureomycin, chloramphenicol, and oxytetracycline.
• Human trials under controlled field conditions assessed antiplague serum, sulfapyridine, sulfathiazole, sulfamerazine, sulfadiazine, and streptomycin.

Main Results:

• Most tested agents, particularly antibiotics (except penicillin), demonstrated a curative effect in over 50% of infected mice, with 90%-100% protection from antibiotics.
• In human trials, streptomycin showed a striking clinical effect, normalizing temperature faster than sulfadiazine or sulfamerazine, especially in septicemic cases.

Conclusions:

• Streptomycin and several other antibiotics are highly effective against bubonic plague in preclinical models.
• Streptomycin exhibits superior clinical efficacy in human plague patients compared to older sulfonamides, particularly in reducing fever duration.