title: Use of single-dose ofloxacin to eradicate tonsillopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis.
abstract: After an outbreak of three cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease at a Norwegian college, 84 of 392 (21%) subjects were tonsillopharyngeal carriers of Neisseria meningitidis. To eradicate meningococcal carriage, 80 volunteers received a single dose of 400 mg of ofloxacin. Three days after treatment, all 75 evaluable volunteers were culture negative for N. meningitidis, and after 7 days none carried the strain that they carried initially, as judged by DNA fingerprinting. A single dose of ofloxacin was found to be 97.2% effective in eradicating carriage of N. meningitidis for a period of 33 days. The carriage acquisition rate among treated students was four times higher than that among nontreated noncarriers (P = 0.02). After ofloxacin treatment, no case of meningococcal disease occurred for 6 months. Ofloxacin may thus prevent the outbreak and spread of meningococcal disease.
authors.affiliation: Medical Department B, University of Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: O H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Gilja
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halstensen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Digranes
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mylvaganam
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aksnes
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Høiby
mesh_terms: D002353:Carrier State / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D006801:Humans; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000187:drug effects; D015242:Ofloxacin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000382:microbiology*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D015242:Ofloxacin