Single oral dose rosoxacin in the treatment of gonorrhoea in males.

A study of the new anti-bacterial agent, rosoxacin, a quinoline derivative was made in male subjects with uncomplicated acute gonorrhoea using a single oral dose of 200 mg and a single dose of 300 mg. Of the eight patients who received a single dose of 200 mg, post-treatment urethral smears and cultures for N. gonorrhoeae were positive in all and these subjects were considered as treatment failures. In contrast, a single dose of 300 mg was highly effective as all twenty-four who received this dose were cured as judged by negative urethral smears and cultures on the 7th post-treatment day. Of the thirty-eight isolates of M. gonorrhoeae obtained in the study, fifteen (39.5%) were penicillinase-producing, indicating that rosoxacin is effective in treating penicillin-resistant gonorrhoea. Mild to moderate dizziness and/or drowsiness was experienced by four of twenty-nine patients evaluated for safety on the 300 mg single dose, giving an incidence of side-effects of 14%. The symptoms were of brief duration and were self-limiting. A single oral dose of this drug appears to be an ideal treatment for the rapid cure of acute gonorrhoea.