title: Drug therapy of bacillus Calmette-Guérin sepsis.
abstract: Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is widely used for the treatment of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Although it is usually well tolerated, sepsis can occur, which has resulted in at least eight deaths [3]. The survival of Connaught BCG-infected mice treated with single and combination antibiotic and steroid therapy was evaluated. Triple-drug therapy with isoniazid, rifampin, and prednisolone resulted in 53% survival compared with 25% survival in the control group (P = 0.0209). A survival of only 10.5% was observed with treatment using prednisolone alone. This survival was worse than that of the control group (25%), and approached statistical significance (P = 0.0669). Our data suggest that BCG sepsis probably has components of both a hypersensitivity reaction and bacterial sepsis; they support the current use of combination antibiotic and steroid therapy for treatment of BCG sepsis in humans, but argue against treatment with steroids alone.
authors.affiliation: Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Department of Urology, Morgantown 26506-9251, USA.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Koukol
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: DeHaven
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Riggs
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Lamm
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D003523:Cycloserine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004338:Drug Combinations; D007538:Isoniazid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012293:Rifampin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D003523:Cycloserine; D007538:Isoniazid; D011241:Prednisone; D012293:Rifampin