Azithromycin for the Treatment of Campylobacter Enteritis in Travelers toThailand, an Area where Ciprofloxacin Resistance is Prevalent

摘要

We evaluated the use of azithromycin (500 mg) or ciprofloxacin (500 mg) daily for3 days for the treatment of acute diarrhea among United States military personnel in Thailand. Stool cultures were obtained and symptoms were recorded on study days 0, 1, 2, 3, and 10. Campylobacter species were the most common pathogen isolated (44 isolates from 42 patients). All Campylobacter isolates were susceptible to azithromycin; 22 were resistant to ciprofloxacin. Among the 42 patients with campylobacter infection, there were 2 clinical and 6 bacteriologic treatment failures in the ciprofloxacinacin group and no treatment failures in the azithromycin group (P = .021 for bacteriologic failures). Overall, azithromycin was as effective as ciprofloxacin in decreasing the duration of illness (36.9 hours vs. 38.2 hours, respectively) and the number of stools (6.4 vs. 7.8, respectively). Among those not infected with Campylobacter species (n).