Clinical Response to Lincomycin in Bacillary Dysentery

cases of prolonged bacterial discharge and carriers

Abstract

Lincomycin which has a striking similarity in antibacterial spectrum to macrolides was employed for the treatment of bacillary dysentery with the following results:
1) The drug M I C for shigellas ranged from 125 to 500 mcg/ml.
2) Lincomycin concentrations in stools determined at about 20 hrs. after an oral dose of 250-500 mg were 600-700 mcg/g.
3) Lincomycin therapy was commenced 2 to 12 days after onset of the disease in 18 patients bacteriologically positive, with or without symptoms, for shigellas resistant to usual antidysenteric antibiotics. With 250-1, 000 mg of oral lincomycin daily, 16 of the 18 patients had complete elimination of the causative bacilli in 5 days, while only 2 showed a sign of bacillary reemergence.
4) This antidysenteric capability of lincomycin stands comparison with, or rather exceeds, that of macrolides.
5) Further clinical experiments will be required for a definite conclusion, but it may be safe to say at this stage that oral lincomycin has shown a significance as a prospective remedy for bacillary dysentery caused by shigellas resistant to conventional antibiotics.