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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 2008, p. 3973-3979, Vol. 52, No. 11
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AAC.00453-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Ordway Research Institute, Laboratory of Emerging Infections, Albany, New York,1 Institute for Clinical Pharmacodynamics of Ordway Research Institute, Albany, New York,2 Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research, Nürnberg-Heroldsberg, Germany,3 United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland 21702-50114
Received 4 April 2008/ Returned for modification 14 May 2008/ Accepted 18 August 2008
Sixty days of ciprofloxacin administration at 500 mg every 12 h is currently recommended for the prophylaxis of inhalational exposure to Bacillus anthracis. We examined Bacillus anthracis (
-Sterne strain) in our hollow-fiber infection model. We measured the ciprofloxacin concentrations achieved and the number of organisms present before heat shock (total population) and after heat shock (spore population). We fit a mathematical model to these data. Monte Carlo simulation with differing initial spore burdens (3, 5, and 6.9 log10 CFU/ml) demonstrated that 35 days of this regimen would completely clear the spore burden in 95% of patients. Durations of 110 days did not achieve 99.9% eradication, irrespective of initial burden, because of between-patient variance in drug pharmacokinetics. Given the absence of person-to-person transmission for Bacillus anthracis, adverse drug effects with long-term ciprofloxacin administration, and the possibility of engendering resistance in bodily flora, shorter prophylaxis duration should be given consideration, along with careful monitoring of all exposed individuals.
Published ahead of print on 25 August 2008.
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