Controlled Trial: 5-Day Course of Telithromycin Versus Doxycycline for the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Scrub Typhus

New antibiotics are required that have antibacterial activity against doxycyline resistant O. tsutsugamushi, that can be safely used in pregnant women and children, that have a low possibility of inducing resistance and that do not induce cross resistant to other antibiotics. Telithromycin has been reported to be effective on Rickettsia, Batonella and Coxiella burnetii. Therefore, telithromycin may be considered as a substitute antibiotic that can be used safely in pregnant women and children for rickettsiosis or Orientia infection. Our study was designed to prove the clinical usefulness of telithromycin by comparing it with doxycycline for treating mild or moderate scrub typhus.

• Drug: Telithromycin
• Drug: Doxycycline

Inclusion Criteria:

We conducted a multicenter prospective study of patients with possible scrub typhus. Adult patients (aged ≥18 years) who have had fever (temperature: ≥37.5°C) together with eschar or a maculopapular skin rash and ≥2 of the following symptoms: headache, malaise, myalgia, coughing, nausea, and abdominal discomfort, were enrolled after obtaining an informed consent from the patients or their guardians (10). Each patient was admitted between September, 2005 to December, 2005 to Chosun University Hospital or one of its two community branch hospitals (Jangheung Hospital and Chumdan Hospital), which are all located in southwest Korea.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The exclusion criteria were an inability to take oral medications, pregnancy, hypersensitivity to the trial drugs, previous drug therapy with potential antirickettsial activity (e.g., rifampicin, chloramphenicol, macrolides, fluoroquinolones or tetracyclines) within 48 h prior to admission, severe scrub typhus (shock requiring vasopressor therapy for >1 h, a stuporous or comatose level of consciousness, respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation or renal failure requiring immediate dialysis)