Acute gonococcal urethritis: treatment with a single dose of rifampicin.

A total of 103 patients with acute gonococcal urethritis were treated with a single 1,200 mg dose of rifampicin. A 91 . 3% cure rate was obtained, as proved by the negative bacteriological controls effected on the 7th and 14th days after the initiation of therapy. Three pharyngeal infections and one ano-rectal infection responded successfully to the treatment. No signs of drug intolerance were detected with the stated dose. Reactivity to the VDRL test was not impaired during the duration of the study and three reactive cases were discovered. In previous studies of gonorrhoea we had observed a significant discrepancy between urine cultures and the urethral smears and, in view of this, it was decided to adopt the latter alone as a routine procedure. The proposed dose does not originate resistance to rifampicin in either the Hansen or Koch bacilli.