Treatment of gonorrhea with cefazolin plus probenecid.

Abstract

The cephalosporin group of antibiotics has a poor record in therapy of gonorrhea. In this study a new parenteral cephalosporin C derivative, cefazolin, was examined alone and with probenecid, and the two regimens were compared with aqueous procaine penicillin G plus probenecid in the treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea. Two grams of cefazolin resulted in nine t ailures among 31 patients (29%). The same dose of cefazolin plus 1.0 g of probenecid resulted in six failures among 31 patients (19.3%). The control schedule of 4.8 X 106 units of aqueous procaine penicillin G plus 1.0 g of probenecid resulted in only one failure among 30 patients (3.3%). Levels of cefazolin were determined in sera of 10 patients; at 6 hr the mean serum level in patients who had received cefazolin plus probenecid was twice that in those who had received cefazolin alone. Serum levels of cefazolin were at least 10 times the mean minimal inhibitory concentration of cefazolin of 2.76 p[g/ml at 6 hr in eight of 10 subjects.