Treatment of gonorrhea with single-dose thiamphenicol in Kenya

The efficacy of a single 2.5-g dose of thiamphenicol against infection with penicillinase-producing strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) or non-penicillinase-producing strains (non-PPNG) was studied in a two-phase clinical trial in Nairobi. The first phase included men who had had a urethral discharge for less than seven days, were infected with either PPNG or non-PPNG, and had not received previous treatment. The second phase included men with PPNG infections that had not responded to treatment with penicillin. The overall cure rate (determined by follow-up examinations and cultures three and ten days after treatment) was 90.6% in the first phase of the study and 92.1% in the second phase. A second 2.5-g dose of thiamphenicol was administered to four of the six patients in the second phase whose cultures yielded gonococci after the initial dose; the infections of all four patients were cured. The results of disk diffusion tests of gonococcal isolates did not correlate well with the outcome of treatment.