Clinical Efficacy of Cefixime for the Treatment of Early Syphilis

Chrysovalantis Stafylis; Kori Keith; Shivani Mehta; David Tellalian; Pamela Burian; Carl Millner; Jeffrey D Klausner

doi:10.1093/cid/ciab187

Clinical Efficacy of Cefixime for the Treatment of Early Syphilis

Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Sep 7;73(5):907-910. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab187.

Authors

Chrysovalantis Stafylis¹, Kori Keith², Shivani Mehta², David Tellalian³, Pamela Burian³, Carl Millner³, Jeffrey D Klausner¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

Safe and efficacious alternative treatment options for syphilis are necessary. This randomized, 2-arm, noncomparative pilot study evaluated the efficacy of oral cefixime 400 mg in achieving a ≥4-fold rapid plasma reagin titer decrease by 3 or 6 months after treatment. The proportion of cefixime arm participants treated successfully was 87% (95% confidence interval, 69%-100%; 13/15). Clinical Trials Registration. NCT03752112.

Keywords: Treponema pallidum; cefixime; early syphilis; penicillin; syphilis.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
Cefixime / therapeutic use
Humans
Pilot Projects
Syphilis Serodiagnosis
Syphilis* / drug therapy
Treatment Outcome
Treponema pallidum

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Cefixime

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03752112

Grants and funding

20181796/AIDS Healthcare Foundation