Treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhoea in women with a combination of rifampicin and erythromycin.

One hundred women with uncomplicated gonorrhoea (in five cases due to penicillinase producing strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG)) were treated with a single oral dose of rifampicin 900 mg and erythromycin stearate 1 g. N gonorrhoeae was reisolated from the oropharynx of one patient, who was infected with a PPNG strain, but was eradicated from the genital tract in 100% of cases. The combination eradicated Chlamydia trachomatis from only 10 (28%) of the 36 patients infected. Side effects were predominantly mild and consisted of transient nausea. The treatment merits evaluation in areas with a high incidence of PPNG strains.