Randomized comparison of ofloxacin and doxycycline for chlamydia and ureaplasma urethritis and cervicitis

Abstract

Fifty-eight males and 34 females with nongonococcal urethritis and/or cervicitis were treated to compare the efficacy and safety of 7-day regimens of oral ofloxacin 300 mg twice daily and doxycycline hyclate 100 mg twice daily. Forty-seven patients were randomized to receive ofloxacin and 45 patients to receive doxycycline. The microbiologic response rate was 97% (32/33) for both ofloxacin and doxycycline; the combined microbiologic and clinical cure rates were 98% for both treatment groups (ofloxacin 46/47, doxycycline 44/45). Ofloxacin was as effective as doxycycline in the treatment of chlamydial infections (96% vs. 100%). In patients with Ureaplasma urealyticum, the initial response was complete with either drug, but recurrence of infection was observed with both treatment groups (1 of 4 patients in the ofloxacin group and 2 of 11 patients in the doxycycline group). In the treatment of mixed Chlamydia trachomatis and U. urealyticum infections, all 5 patients treated with ofloxacin and 3 of 4 patients treated with doxycycline were cured. In symptomatic patients whose initial cultures were negative, clinical cures were complete with both drugs, but Ureaplasma was isolated at 3 or more weeks post-treatment in 2 patients treated with ofloxacin. In a study of single-dose ofloxacin treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae was eradicated in all subjects, but C. trachomatis was not reliably eradicated. Both drugs were well tolerated with only minimal adverse effects reported in either treatment group. A multiple-dose regimen of ofloxacin appears to be a highly effective and well-tolerated alternative to doxycycline in nongonococcal sexually transmitted disease.