Successful treatment of ozena with ciprofloxacin

Rhinitis chronica foetida, or ozena, is a rare chronic inflammatory disease. The aetiology and pathogenesis are still not satisfactory explained. For many years various medical and surgical methods for the treatment of this slowly progressive and disabling disease have been tried without permanent success so far. The new fluoroquinolones with excellent effect on gram-negative bacteria and high suitability for oral use offer a potentially attractive treatment for ozena. We review our experience in the treatment of 10 patients with ciprofloxacin in a daily dose of 500-750 mg b.i.d. for 1-3 months. The patients have been followed regularly for up to 26-74 months after treatment and in all of them we registered permanent disappearance of odour, crusting, and growth of Klebsiella ozenae. We conclude that ciprofloxacin provides a step towards better conservative therapy for patients with ozena.