Comparison of clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin therapy for Bacillus anthracis Sterne infection in mice with or without 60Co gamma-photon irradiation Brook, Itzhak and Giraldo, Dianet E and Germana, Antonino and Nicolau, David P and Jackson, William E and Elliott, Thomas B and Thakar, Jay H and Shoemaker, Michael O and Ledney, G David,, 54, 1157-1162 (2005), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.46166-0, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 0022-2615, abstract= Biological agents and ionizing radiation lead to more severe clinical outcomes than either insult alone. This study investigated the survival of non-irradiated and 60Co-gamma-irradiated mice given therapy for inhalation anthrax with ciprofloxacin (CIP) or a clinically relevant mixture of clarithromycin (CLR) and its major human microbiologically important metabolite 14-hydroxy clarithromycin (14-OH CLR). All B6D2F1/J 10-week-old female mice were inoculated intratracheally with 3 × 108 c.f.u. of Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores 4 days after the non-lethal 7 Gy dose of 60Co gamma radiation. Twenty-one days of treatment with CLR/14-OH CLR, 150 mg kg−1 twice daily, or CIP, 16.5 mg kg−1 twice daily, began 24 h after inoculation. Pharmacokinetics indicate that the area under the curve (AUC) for 14-OH CLR on the concentration-versus-time graph was slightly higher in gamma-irradiated than non-irradiated animals. Neither drug was able to increase survival in gamma-irradiated animals. CIP and CLR/14-OH CLR therapies in non-irradiated animals increased survival from 49 % (17/35 mice) in buffer-treated animals to 94 % (33/35) and 100 %, respectively (P < 0.001). B. anthracis Sterne only was isolated from 25–50 % of treated mice with or without irradiation. Mixed infections with B. anthracis Sterne were present in 50–71 % of gamma-irradiated mice but only in 5–10 % of mice without irradiation., language=, type=