Erythrasma Treated With Single-Dose Clarithromycin

A comparison between the effectiveness of erythromycin, single-dose clarithromycin and topical fusidic acid in the treatment of erythrasma

“…that a single dose of clarithromycin could constitude a cheap, effective and safe therapy with perfect patient's compliance and tolerability (16). In our study, the efficacy of fusidic acid cream was determined to be significantly higher than all other methods of treatment.…”

“…Hence, clarithromycin seems to be much more effective particularly on the Corynebacterium species when compared with other macrolides. However, there is no clinical trial investigating the efficacy of clarithromycin in the treatment of erythrasma except one report including only three patients (16). The effectiveness of 1 g/day single dose of clarithromycin in erythrasma can be explained with its superior features such as bioavailability, half-life and MIC value when compared with erythromycin as well as its postantibiotic effect.…”

Interdigital Pedal Erythrasma treated with one‐time dose of oral clarithromycin 1 g: Two case reports

“…There is scarce information published on the use of a one‐time dose of clarithromycin 1 g to treat Erythrasma. There are two published studies, with only four reported patients treated in total, in the literature detailing the success of a one‐time dose of clarithromycin 1 g to treat inguinal Erythrasma, none of which involved IPE . The following case reports detail the first documented cases of IPE treated with a one‐time dose of oral clarithromycin 1 g. In this study, two patients with confirmed Interdigital Pedal Erythrasma without concomitant tinea pedis were no longer able to apply topical antibiotics to the affected interspaces, either due to failure of topical therapy or the physical inability to apply topical antibiotics to the affected interspaces.…”

“…Clarithromycin has a safer adverse reaction profile than tetracycline and can be safely used on pediatric patients as it does not cause tooth discoloration in children . While clarithromycin and erythromycin cause similar adverse reactions, clarithromycin causes less gastric side effects while having higher bioavailability, longer half‐life, and broader spectrum of antimicrobial activity compared to erythromycin . Comparing the oral options in cost, the total cost of treatment of this clarithromycin regimen is only $1.20 USD, significantly less than erythromycin costing $22.40 USD and tetracycline costing $11.20 USD .…”

Toxicology of the Skin

“…Erythrasma is a superficial intertriginous skin infection caused by Corynebacterium minutissimum and less commonly by C. afermentans (539)(540)(541)(542)(543)(544)(545)(546)(547)(548)(549)(550)(551)(552). Under favorable conditions of heat and humidity, the organisms invade the upper one-third of the stratum corneum and secrete keratinases.…”