Therapy of anorectal gonorrhea in men. Efficacy of oral antibiotic regimens.

The results of therapy in 916 men with anorectal gonorrhea treated with orally given antibiotic drugs were reviewed retrospectively. There was a 17.8 percent failure rate for tetracycline (total dose, 10 grams) and a 10.7 percent failure for 3.5 grams of ampicillin plus 1 gram of probenicid. Repeating the ampicillin plus probenicid dose once in 8 to 14 hours reduced the failure rate to 1.6 percent, an efficacy comparable to the regimen of 4.8 million units of aqueous procaine penicillin G given intramuscularly plus 1 gram of probenicid given orally for treatment of anorectal gonorrhea.