Nepalese researchers have established that the affordable drug, Gatifloxacin, is a better treatment for drug- resistant typhoid.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr Buddha Basnyat at Patan Hospital Lalitpur in Kathmandu, Nepal.As part of the study, researchers compared the effect of the new drug with Cefixime, which is currently recommended by the World Health Organisation for treating enteric fever.
Researchers found that the new cost-effective fluoroquinolone drug, might be better than Cefixime.
"The currently recommended treatment, Cefixime, is relatively expensive and must be administered for a longer duration than is ideal. Clearly there is an urgent need for a treatment that is cost-effective and easy to administer," Basnyat said.
The study also noted that Salmonella enterica Typhi and Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyhpi A, the two most common bacteria to cause enteric fever, do not show resistance to Gatifloxacin, unlike for other fluoroquinolones.
The findings of the study were published in journal PLoS ONE.
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