Clarithromycin is inactive against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
When 10% oleic acid-albumin-dextrose-catalase-enriched Mueller-Hinton agar medium was employed, the MICs of clarithromycin (CLARI) at which 50 and 90% of 12 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were inhibited were 64 and > 128 micrograms/ml, respectively, which are significantly greater than the achievable peak CLARI concentrations in serum and in lung tissue in humans. In two different mouse experiments, 4 to 6 weeks of treatment with CLARI at 200 mg/kg of body weight six times weekly produced neither bactericidal nor bacteriostatic effects against M. tuberculosis. Therefore, we conclude that CLARI as a single drug is inactive against M. tuberculosis.
Truffot-Pernot
C
C
Faculté Médecine Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
Lounis
N
N
Grosset
J H
JH
Ji
B
B
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017291:Clarithromycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D017291:Clarithromycin