Absorption of ciprofloxacin in febrile and afebrile patients.

There are few studies evaluating the effect of fever on the bioavailability of oral antimicrobials. Owing to the growing interest in early conversion of febrile hospitalized patients from intravenous to oral therapy to reduce costs and avoid line sepsis, we evaluated the absorption of a single 500 mg dose of ciprofloxacin in 12 patients during an acute febrile episode and following defervescence. Patients able to take medication by mouth, oral temperature > or = 38.9 degrees C, and no known gastrointestinal disease were enrolled. Medications known to interact with the test agent were discontinued. Serum samples were obtained prior to and up until 12 h postdose. Pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained from the concentration-time profile using noncompartmental methods. The mean values for C(max) were 2.45 +/- 0.77 and 2.31 +/- 1.26 microg/ml, for T(max) 1.48 +/- 0.75 and 2.48 +/- 1.46 h, AUC(0-->infinity) 10.91 +/- 3.64 and 11.05 +/- 4.41 microg/ml h, and T (1 2 ) 4.05 +/- 0.65 and 4.08 +/- 0.76 h, respectively, for the febrile and afebrile periods. No statistically significant differences were observed between these parameters. We conclude that oral ciprofloxacin is well absorbed and is a suitable alternative to intravenous therapy in selected patients during an acute febrile illness.