Rifampin reduces early mortality in experimental Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis.
Compared with beta-lactam antibiotics, rifampin releases smaller quantities of proinflammatory cell wall products from Streptococcus pneumoniae in vitro. Mice infected intracerebrally with S. pneumoniae were treated subcutaneously with 2-mg doses of rifampin or ceftriaxone (n=43 each) every 12 h for 3 days and then observed for another 3 days. Rifampin reduced overall mortality from 49% to 26% (P=.04). Kaplan-Meyer analysis revealed a substantial reduction of mortality during the first 24 h in mice receiving rifampin (difference in survival time: P=.007). Eight h after receiving a single 2-mg dose of rifampin or ceftriaxone, rifampin-treated mice had lower serum and cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of lipoteichoic and teichoic acids than did ceftriaxone-treated mice (median serum level: <0.5 vs. 27.0 ng/mL, P=.02; median cerebrospinal fluid level of pooled specimens: 97.5 vs. 206.0 ng/mL). Thus, the use of rifampin appears promising for reducing the release of proinflammatory bacterial components and decreasing early mortality in bacterial meningitis.
Nau
R
R
Neurologische Universitätsklinik, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany. rnau@gwdg.de
Wellmer
A
A
Soto
A
A
Koch
K
K
Schneider
O
O
Schmidt
H
H
Gerber
J
J
Michel
U
U
Brück
W
W
D000818:Animals; D002443:Ceftriaxone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D008586:Meningitis, Pneumococcal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011336:Probability; D012293:Rifampin / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D002443:Ceftriaxone; D012293:Rifampin