Treatment of typhoid fever and infectious diarrhoea with ciprofloxacin

Abstract

Ciprofloxacin and other related fluorinated 4-quinolones have microbiological and pharmacokinetic properties that suggest they could be useful agents in the management of typhoid fever and bacterial gastroenteritis. Initial studies confirm that this is the case. Against fully sensitive Salmonella typhi ciprofloxacin is clinically as effective as chloramphenicol or co-trimoxazole. It is also effective treatment for antibiotic-resistant strains which cause epidemic and endemic infection throughout the world. Furthermore, ciprofloxacin appears to eliminate chronic carriage of Salm. typhi more efficiently than other antibiotics. Ciprofloxacin has excellent in-vitro activity against all the bacterial pathogens that commonly cause infective diarrhoea. There are limited data concerning its use in the treatment of shigella dysentery but, in appropriate situations, ciprofloxacin is effective treatment for salmonella enteritis and is also effective in infections complicated by septicaemia and bone and liver abscesses. Ciprofloxacin appears to be of benefit in Campylobacter jejuni enteritis and is effective in the treatment of travellers' diarrhoea were enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and shigellae are most important.