Clinical and microbiological efficacy of a single dose of norfloxacin in the treatment of chancroid.

Forty-one men with a clinically and bacteriologically verified diagnosis of chancroid were given a single dose of 800 mg of norfloxacin and were examined clinically and bacteriologically four, seven and 14 days after treatment. Five patients were excluded from evaluation of efficacy due to concomitant infections or incomplete follow-up. Of the remaining 36 patients, 34 were cured and culture negative at follow-up controls. Another 15 men with culture-negative ulcers treated with 800 mg of norfloxacin as a single dose, were all cured clinically. The high cure rate and the good tolerability make norfloxacin a convenient and cheap alternative to intramuscular single dose therapy of chancroid.