Clinical evaluation of co-trimoxazole and furazolidone in treatment of shigellosis in children.

Co-trimoxazole (trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole) was compared with furazolidone in the treatment of shigellosis in two groups of 33 and 30 patients respectively. Those treated with co-trimoxazole recovered more quickly; none had shigellae in the faeces four days after the start of treatment, whereas in the group given furazolidone eight still had positive stool cultures seven days after treatment.The susceptibility of 104 shigella strains to seven antimicrobial agents was studied by plate dilution technique. All agents but tetracycline and chloramphenicol were found highly effective against most of the strains tested. All shigella isolates were resistant to sulphamethoxazole, and 63% were sensitive to trimethoprim. Potentiation of trimethoprim by sulphamethoxazole was shown in that all strains tested became sensitive to the combination of trimethoprim and sulphamethoxazole in a ratio of 1:20.