Treatment of severe bacillary dysentery with trimethoprim alone

Trimethoprim (300 mg twice daily for five days) and co-trimoxazole (two tablets twice daily for five days) were compared as treatment for adult patients with severe shigellosis in Rwanda. Excellent bacteriological and clinical results were obtained with both regimens, with the exception of patients infected with a trimethoprim-resistant strain of Shigella dysenteriae type 1. Since only 20 patients were investigated, the conclusions of our study do not reach statistical significance. Before recommending trimethoprim as standard therapy for shigellosis, the validity of our results should be tested in a larger trial and the long-term ecological consequences of monotherapy carefully monitored.