A comparative study of therapeutic response of patients with clinical chancroid to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, and cotrimoxazole.
OBJECTIVE
Cotrimoxazole has traditionally been used as first drug for treatment of chancroid in India. With reports of increasing resistance to the drug, this study was conducted to compare treatment response of clinical chancroid between ciprofloxacin, 500 mg twice daily for 3 days, erythromycin, 500 mg four times daily for 7 days, and double-strength cotrimoxazole (trimethoprim 160 mg + sulfamethoxazole 800 mg), twice daily for 7 days.


METHODS
Forty-six patients with a clinical diagnosis of chancroid were randomly divided into 3 groups. Sixteen patients received ciprofloxacin, whereas 15 each received erythromycin and cotrimoxazole. Patients were seen on day 7, 14, and if needed day 21. Clinical response was noted in terms of cure, improvement, or failure.


RESULTS
Excellent response was observed to both ciprofloxacin and erythromycin therapy with cure rates of 93.7% and 93.3%, respectively. Improvement was observed in 6.7% cases in both groups. There were no failures with either ciprofloxacin or erythromycin. Poor response to cotrimoxazole therapy was observed with 53.3% cure rates and a high failure rate of 46.7%.


CONCLUSIONS
Ciprofloxacin and erythromycin are equally effective in chancroid. Ciprofloxacin is better in terms of dosage schedule, duration of treatment, and low cost. Cotrimoxazole should be discontinued as drug of choice because of high failure rates.
D'Souza
P
P
Department of Dermatology & Venereology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, India.
Pandhi
R K
RK
Khanna
N
N
Rattan
A
A
Misra
R S
RS
D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000892:Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002602:Chancroid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002939:Ciprofloxacin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D000892:Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary; D002939:Ciprofloxacin; D004917:Erythromycin; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination