Anthrax Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Anthrax, including details on bacillus anthracis, contagiousness, exposure, effects.

Comparison of clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin therapy for Bacillus anthracis Sterne infection in mice with or without (60)Co gamma-photon irradiation.

Brook I, Giraldo DE, Germana A, Nicolau DP, Jackson WE, Elliott TB, Thakar JH, Shoemaker MO, Ledney GD

Scientific Research Department, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20889-5603, USA. Brook@afrri.usuhs.mil

Biological agents and ionizing radiation lead to more severe clinical outcomes than either insult alone. This study investigated the survival of non-irradiated and (60)Co-gamma-irradiated mice given therapy for inhalation anthrax with ciprofloxacin (CIP) or a clinically relevant mixture of clarithromycin (CLR) and its major human microbiologically important metabolite 14-hydroxy clarithromycin (14-OH CLR). All B6D2F1/J 10-week-old female mice were inoculated intratracheally with 3 x 10(8) c.f.u. of Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores 4 days after the non-lethal 7 Gy dose of (60)Co gamma radiation. Twenty-one days of treatment with CLR/14-OH CLR, 150 mg kg(-1) twice daily, or CIP, 16.5 mg kg(-1) twice daily, began 24 h after inoculation. Pharmacokinetics indicate that the area under the curve (AUC) for 14-OH CLR on the concentration-versus-time graph was slightly higher in gamma-irradiated than non-irradiated animals. Neither drug was able to increase survival in gamma-irradiated animals. CIP and CLR/14-OH CLR therapies in non-irradiated animals increased survival from 49 % (17/35 mice) in buffer-treated animals to 94 % (33/35) and 100 %, respectively (P < 0.001). B. anthracis Sterne only was isolated from 25-50 % of treated mice with or without irradiation. Mixed infections with B. anthracis Sterne were present in 50-71 % of gamma-irradiated mice but only in 5-10 % of mice without irradiation.

Published 9 November 2005 in J Med Microbiol, 54: 1157-62.
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