Cefuroxime Compared with Penicillin for the Treatment of Gonorrhea

Abstract

Men (117) and women (61) with acute gonorrhea were treated by i.m. administration of cefuroxime. Use of 1 g of cefuroxime plus 1 g of probenecid gave a cure rate of 95.5%, which compared well with that of a standard treatment of 5 .times. 106 units of i.m. administered benzyl penicillin plus 1 g of probenecid. The latter gave a cure rate of 97.2% in a concurrent series of 178 patients. A subsequent comparison of 163 patients who received 750 mg of cefuroxime plus 1 g of probenecid with 145 patients who received 1.5 g of cefuroxime alone showed cure rates of 95.1% and 97.2%, respectively. Only 2 cases of possible hypersensitivity to cefuroxime were found. Thus, cefuroxime is a valuable drug for single-session treatment of acute gonorrhea in men and women.