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. 1993 Sep;37(9):2024–2026. doi: 10.1128/aac.37.9.2024

Use of single-dose ofloxacin to eradicate tonsillopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis.

O H Gilja 1, A Halstensen 1, A Digranes 1, H Mylvaganam 1, A Aksnes 1, E A Høiby 1
PMCID: PMC188115  PMID: 8239626

Abstract

After an outbreak of three cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease at a Norwegian college, 84 of 392 (21%) subjects were tonsillopharyngeal carriers of Neisseria meningitidis. To eradicate meningococcal carriage, 80 volunteers received a single dose of 400 mg of ofloxacin. Three days after treatment, all 75 evaluable volunteers were culture negative for N. meningitidis, and after 7 days none carried the strain that they carried initially, as judged by DNA fingerprinting. A single dose of ofloxacin was found to be 97.2% effective in eradicating carriage of N. meningitidis for a period of 33 days. The carriage acquisition rate among treated students was four times higher than that among nontreated noncarriers (P = 0.02). After ofloxacin treatment, no case of meningococcal disease occurred for 6 months. Ofloxacin may thus prevent the outbreak and spread of meningococcal disease.

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Selected References

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