Mecillinam for Treatment of Genital Chlamydia Infection

Plain-language summary

The mainstay of treating both symptomatic and asymptomatic genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection has been macrolide antibiotics in the form of azithromycin, and alternatively tetracycline antibiotics in the form of doxycycline. Studies from the late nineties found a single dose of 1 g azithromycin to be equally effective as a 7 day course of 200 mg doxycycline a day. However, recent studies have reported increasing treatment failure that may indicate that resistance to macrolide antibiotics among Chlamydia trachomatis is evolving. Research regarding other bacterial species indicates a high frequency of mutation based resistance in conjunction with azithromycin use, i.e. when treating Mycoplasma genitalium infections. There has only been case reports of tetracycline resistance among human Chlamydia isolates, but a recent study suggest that there might be decreasing effectiveness also for doxycycline. Veterinaries has for several years observed increasing prevalence of tetracycline resistance among Chlamydia suis. Within the Chlamydia population there is promiscuous horizontal gene transfer. If the current trend of declining cure rates continues, the investigators might face a situation where there are no documented and effective treatments for Chlamydia trachomatis infections. This underline an urgent need to expand the number of documented treatment options and mecillinam seems to be one of the options that warrant further investigation. The objectives of this study is to prove the concept of treating genital Chlamydia trachomatis with mecillinam (Pivmecillinamhydrochlorid).

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