Cipro

I was given  Cipro 500mg for 3 weeks to treat chlamydia.  Is this an effective antibiotic?  

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Ciprofloxacin is not recommended for chlamydia; it has modest activity against chlamydia and is less reliable than the primary recommended drugs, azithromycin or doxycycline.  However, you are taking a fairly large dose, especially if you are taking 500 mg twice daily, and for a long time.  (The standard treatments are 7 days of doxy or a single dose of azithromycin).   Three weeks treatment likely would cure you, but to be safe, I recommend you be retested a few weeks after you finish treatment to be sure you were cured.

Perhaps your provider intended the treatment to cover chlamydia plus certain other infections, in which case cipro might be OK.  But to be safest, it would be best to also ask for a single 1 gram dose of azithromycin.  Then you wouldn't need to worry about retesting.

Well, the last statements needs clarification.  Everybody with a positive lab test for chlamydia or gonorrhea should have a repeat test 3-6 months later.  This is called "rescreening" and is designed to pick up repeat infections.  Among all persons with gonorrhea or chlamydia, 10-20% have new infections when retested a few months later, even if they believe all their partners were treated.

Which raises the last point:  Make sure your recent sex partner(s) are treated.  Preferably they should also be examined, but at a minimum they need treatment.

Regards--  HHH, MD