Efficacy of chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, and tetracycline for treatment of experimental Rocky Mountain spotted fever in dogs

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1991 Nov;35(11):2375-81. doi: 10.1128/AAC.35.11.2375.

Abstract

Dogs were experimentally inoculated with Rickettsia rickettsii to characterize the comparative efficacies of chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, and tetracycline for the treatment of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). All three antibiotics were equally effective in abrogating the clinical, hematologic, and vascular indicators of rickettsial infection. Antibiotic treatment for 24 h was sufficient to decrease the rickettsemia to levels below detection by Vero cell culture. Early treatment with all three antibiotics resulted in a similar decrease in antibody titer, but acute and convalescent serum samples taken at appropriate times would have still facilitated an accurate diagnosis of RMSF in all but one dog, which did not seroconvert. We conclude that chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, and tetracycline are equally efficacious for treating experimental canine RMSF.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Infective Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Antibodies, Bacterial / analysis
  • Capillary Permeability / physiology
  • Chloramphenicol / therapeutic use*
  • Dogs
  • Enrofloxacin
  • Female
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Fluoroquinolones*
  • Quinolones / therapeutic use*
  • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / drug therapy*
  • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / microbiology
  • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / physiopathology
  • Tetracycline / therapeutic use*
  • Vero Cells

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • Antibodies, Bacterial
  • Fluoroquinolones
  • Quinolones
  • Enrofloxacin
  • Chloramphenicol
  • Tetracycline