The role of azithromycin in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are a great public problem all over the world. Standard treatment of bacterial STDs usually consists of multidose regimens which diminish patient compliance and compromise treatment results. Azithromycin has distinctive pharmacokinetic advantages over other macrolides. Excellent bioavailability and long half life in tissues enables simple dosage regimens such as once a day for 3 days or even as a single dose. Because azithromycin is active against Chlamydia trachomatis and Ureaplasma urealyticum, the greatest advantage of the azithromycin single dose regimen would be the treatment of the nongonorrheic urethritis syndrome. However, much more experience is needed for the use of azithromycin in the treatment of syphilis, chlamydial infections in pregnancy, gonorrhea and bacterial STDs in HIV-coinfected patients as the first choice agent in the treatment of bacterial STD syndrome.