Leprosy is a major debilitating infectious disease, primarily of the developing world. In this paper the current status and future prospects of antimicrobial therapy of the severe anergic lepromatous form of the disease are reviewed. Until the last few years only dapsone, rifampicin, clofazimine and ethionamide have had practical application in its therapy, and only rifampicin was bactericidal. Recently, antibiotics from three different classes have been found to be bactericidal in lepromatous patients: a tetracycline (minocycline), a macrolide (clarithromycin), and several fluoroquinolones (including pefloxacin, ofloxacin and sparfloxacin). Against a background of drug resistance and bacterial persistence, recommendations for multidrug therapy and the means to devise rationally based therapy for the future are discussed.
BT - European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7698121?dopt=Abstract DA - 1994 Nov DO - 10.1007/bf02111496 IS - 11 J2 - Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. LA - eng N2 -Leprosy is a major debilitating infectious disease, primarily of the developing world. In this paper the current status and future prospects of antimicrobial therapy of the severe anergic lepromatous form of the disease are reviewed. Until the last few years only dapsone, rifampicin, clofazimine and ethionamide have had practical application in its therapy, and only rifampicin was bactericidal. Recently, antibiotics from three different classes have been found to be bactericidal in lepromatous patients: a tetracycline (minocycline), a macrolide (clarithromycin), and several fluoroquinolones (including pefloxacin, ofloxacin and sparfloxacin). Against a background of drug resistance and bacterial persistence, recommendations for multidrug therapy and the means to devise rationally based therapy for the future are discussed.
PY - 1994 SP - 942 EP - 52 T2 - European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology TI - Chemotherapy of lepromatous leprosy: recent developments and prospects for the future. VL - 13 SN - 0934-9723 ER -