Recent clinical trials having established the value of tetracycline as an adjunct to fluid and electrolyte replacement in cholera treatment, a controlled trial of antibiotic therapy was conducted in Dacca on 318 adults hospitalized for cholera. The effects of 4 antibiotics orally administered in varying dosage schedules were studied.Cholera therapy with tetracycline or chloramphenicol caused a highly significant reduction in the duration of diarrhoea and of positive culture, in stool volume, and in intravenous fluid requirement as compared with the results in controls who received intravenous fluid therapy only. Streptomycin was also effective, but to a lesser degree; paromomycin was of little value.The severity of dehydration on admission was significantly related to subsequent duration of diarrhoea regardless of whether antibiotics were given. Increasing age was associated with more prolonged purging in patients receiving antibiotics.Increasing the dose of tetracycline to 2 to 3 times that usually administered, or prolonging treatment from 2 to 4 days, did not enhance the therapeutic results. The effect of tetracycline was apparent within a few hours of administration. Bacteriological relapses were seen after discontinuation of therapy in all treatment groups, but were not due to the development of resistant bacteria.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1967

Antibiotic therapy of cholera in children.

In a controlled trial of the effects of oral antibiotics in treating cholera in children in Dacca, East Pakistan, tetracycline was the most effective of 4 antibiotics tested in reducing stool volume, intravenous fluid requirement, and the duration of diarrhoea and positive stool culture. Increasing the duration of tetracycline therapy from 2 to 4 days, or increasing the total dose administered, resulted in shorter duration of positive culture, but did not affect stool volume or duration of diarrhoea. Only 1% of the children receiving tetracycline had diarrhoea for more than 4 days. Tetracycline was significantly more effective than intravenous fluid therapy alone, regardless of severity of disease.Chloramphenicol, while also effective, was inferior to tetracycline. Streptomycin and paromomycin exerted little or no effect on the course of illness or duration of positive culture. Therapeutic failures with these drugs were not due to the development of bacterial resistance.From these findings, tetracycline appears to be the drug of choice against Vibrio cholerae infection in children. Oral therapy for 48 hours is effective clinically, but is associated with 20% bacteriological relapses when the drug is discontinued; it is not known whether extending the therapy for a week or more would eliminate such relapses.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1967