Treatment of gonorrhea with spectinomycin hydrochloride: comparison with standard penicillin schedules.

Spectinomycin hydrochloride, a new parenteral antibiotic prepared from Streptomyces spectabilis, was compared with standard U.S. Public Health Service-recommended dosages of aqueous procaine penicillin G in the treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea in 353 men and 314 women. Of the 314 women, 130 had a pretreatment positive rectal culture. All diagnoses were proven by culture on Thayer-Martin selective medium. Minimal inhibitory concentrations of both drugs were determined. Single doses of 2 and 4 g of spectinomycin were compared with 2.4 million units of procaine penicillin in males and with both 2.4 and 4.8 million units of procaine penicillin in females. Both spectinomycin schedules, 2.4 million units of penicillin in males and 4.8 million units of penicillin in females, resulted in cure rates in excess of 90%. There were no failures at the rectal site only in those women with positive rectal cultures. There was no advantage to using the larger amount of spectinomycin in either sex.