Skip Navigation



JAC Advance Access published online on November 18, 2002
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkf251
© 2002 by The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
50/6/981    most recent
dkf251v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Djurkovic-Djakovic, O.
Right arrow Articles by Grujic, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Djurkovic-Djakovic, O.
Right arrow Articles by Grujic, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2002 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Original Paper

Efficacy of atovaquone combined with clindamycin against murine infection with a cystogenic (Me49) strain of Toxoplasma gondii

Olgica Djurkovic-Djakovic 1*, Vladimir Milenkovic 1, Aleksandra Nikolic 1, Branko Bobic 1, Jelica Grujic 1

1 Toxoplasmosis Research Laboratory, Institute for Medical Research, PO Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Yugoslavia

* Corresponding author. E-mail: olgicadj{at}imi.bg.ac.yu.

Received 21 January 2002 ; revised 13 May 2002 ; accepted 16 September 2002

Abstract

The efficacy of atovaquone (ATO) combined with clindamycin (CLI) against Toxoplasma gondii was examined in murine models of infection with a mouse-non-virulent (Me49) strain. Swiss-Webster mice inoculated by mouth with 10 or 20 cysts were treated with ATO and CLI alone or combined at dosages of ATO 5-100 and CLI 25-400 mg/kg/day for 2-4 weeks. Drug treatment was initiated (i) day 4 post-infection (acute infection), (ii) 3 months post-infection (chronic infection) and (iii) following a 2-3 week course of treatment with dexamethasone (DXM) alone or combined with cortisone-acetate (CA) introduced 3 months post-infection (reactivated toxoplasmosis). In acute infection, whereas treatment with any drug or drug combination significantly enhanced survival and reduced the brain cyst burden, in mice treated with ATO alone or combined with CLI, the cyst counts were significantly lower than in mice treated with CLI alone. In chronic infection, the decrease in the cyst burden observed 2 weeks after treatment with either drug alone was significant only in mice treated with the combined drugs. Most importantly, in reactivated toxoplasmosis, whereas an effect for the combined drugs was shown in mice suppressed with both DXM alone and combined with CA, in mice pre-treated with DXM a 3 week course of ATO >=25 and CLI 50 mg/kg/day significantly increased survival and markedly decreased the cyst burden. The latter effect was long-term, since the cyst burdens in treated mice continued to decrease up to 3 months later, whereas they increased in the untreated mice. The results warrant clinical evaluation of the combination of ATO and CLI in the treatment of toxoplasmosis in both immunocompetent and, more importantly, immunosuppressed patients.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.Home page
I. R. Dunay, M. M. Heimesaat, F. N. Bushrab, R. H. Muller, H. Stocker, K. Arasteh, M. Kurowski, R. Fitzner, K. Borner, and O. Liesenfeld
Atovaquone Maintenance Therapy Prevents Reactivation of Toxoplasmic Encephalitis in a Murine Model of Reactivated Toxoplasmosis
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., December 1, 2004; 48(12): 4848 - 4854.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.