Cefazolin in the Treatment of Uncomplicated Gonorrhea in Men Morton Nelson From the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency,

3.0-g doses of cefazolin administered im were compared in the treatment of 149 men with acute gonococcal urethritis. The cure rates, as determined by culture, were 75 % for the patients who received the 2.0-g dose and 89 % for those treated with the 3.0-g dose. However, the difference in the rates of cure was not statistically significant (P> 0.12). As expected, when isolates of Neisseria gonor-rhoeae obtained both before and after treatment were tested in vitro against both cefazolin and penicillin G, the organisms were shown to be more susceptible to penicillin G than to cefazolin. Adverse reactions were noted among recipients of both doses of cefazolin; discomfort at the injection site was the most common complaint. The results indicate that 2 g or 3 g of cefazolin administered im has only limited usefulness in the treatment of gonococcal urethritis in men. Further studies are needed before definitive conclusions can be made as to the efficacy of cefazolin in the treatment of gonorrhea. New antimicrobial agents for the treatment of gonorrhea have been sought continually over the past several years. Cefazolin is a new semisyn-thetic cephalosporin antibiotic that has shown in vitro activity against most gram-positive and gram-negative species of bacteria, including Neisseria gonorrhoeae [1, 2]. This paper presents the results of a recent prospective study evaluating the effec-tiveness of two dosages of cefazolin in the treat-ment of acute gonococcal urethritis in men. The study was conducted at the Central Health Distric