Effect of Azithromycin plus Rifampin versus Amoxicillin Alone on Eradication and Inflammation in the Chronic Course of Chlamydia pneumoniae Pneumonitis in Mice

Abstract

The effects of treatment with azithromycin plus rifampin (A+R), amoxicillin (A), or placebo (P) on the chronic course of experimentalChlamydia pneumoniae pneumonitis in mice were assessed by culture, PCR, and immunocytochemistry as well as by degree of inflammation in lung tissue. Eradication of the pathogen was significantly more frequent and inflammation in tissue was significantly reduced after treatment with A+R compared to after treatment with A or P. Combination therapy with azithromycin plus rifampin showed favorable effects in the chronic course of C. pneumoniae pneumonitis.

Inflammatory- and immune responses in relation to bacterial replication in mice following re-infections with Chlamydophila pneumoniae

“…57, 2008 C. pneumoniae re-infections in a mouse model 293 [23]. The relatively low inoculation dose of C. pneumoniae might be closer to those in natural human infections than the much higher doses used for inoculation in some other studies [16,17,21]. In our model, similarly as reported earlier [12,18], viable bacteria were eliminated from the lungs more rapidly after re-infection than after the first infection.…”

“…The animal models of C. pneumoniae infection published so far are most helpful [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], but there has been no concurrent and detailed description of the kinetics of antibody and cell mediated immune responses, or of inflammatory cytokine production in parallel with the detection of viable bacterium and bacterial DNA, both locally and systematically after repeated inoculations. In our mouse model, the 2-month periods between the 3 inoculations allowed the mice to recover fully from the clinical signs of the disease; they therefore simulate the possible re-infection frequency in people, since epidemics generally occur every 4-6 years Vol.…”

“…Mice receiving a single inoculation were anesthetized and sacrificed, and specimens were taken 1 or 2 days or 1,2,4,8,10,16,18,24,36 or 49 weeks after the first inoculation. One group of mice received a second inoculation at week 8, and specimens were taken 1 and 2 days and 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks later.…”

Microbiologic and Immunologic Evaluation of a Single High Dose of Azithromycin for Treatment of Experimental Mycoplasma pneumoniae Pneumonia

“…The placebo group received sterile water for 5 days starting at 24 h after inoculation. We used 10 mg/kg as the conventional azithromycin dosage in this study as it has been used in other mouse studies and has been shown to be comparable to an oral dose of 500 mg in humans (3,9,14). The mycoplasma inoculum was sent to the Diagnostic Mycoplasma Laboratory (Birmingham, AL) for susceptibility testing; the MIC for azithromycin was 0.000125 g/ml.…”

Ocular Symptoms (Conjunctivitis, Uveitis) in Reactive Arthritis

“…Recent in vitro studies showed high efficacy of using a combination of antibiotics (azithromycin + rifampicin) in eradicating Chlamydia infection (Dreses-Werringloer et al2001), later www.intechopen.com confirmed in clinical studies performed with rifampicin and doxycycline (Carter et al 2004). The therapy with rifampicin and azithromycin has been demonstrated in experimental studies to be very effective in the eradication of chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection (Bin et al 2000). Eradication of Chlamydia infections affects the further course of chronic ReA, resulting in reducing inflammatory activity and pain.…”