A Prospective, Open-label, Randomized Trial of Doxycycline Versus Azithromycin for the Treatment of Uncomplicated Murine Typhus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Murine typhus, or infection with Rickettsia typhi, is a global but neglected disease without randomized clinical trials to guide antibiotic therapy.

Methods

A prospective, open, randomized trial was conducted in nonpregnant, consenting inpatient adults with rapid diagnostic test evidence of uncomplicated murine typhus at 2 hospitals in Vientiane, Laos. Patients were randomized to 7 days (D7) or 3 days (D3) of oral doxycycline or 3 days of oral azithromycin (A3). Primary outcome measures were fever clearance time and frequencies of treatment failure and relapse.

Results

Between 2004 and 2009, the study enrolled 216 patients (72 per arm); 158 (73.2%) had serology/polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed murine typhus, and 52 (24.1%) were R. typhi PCR positiv

SUBMITTER: Newton PN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6376095 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature