Failure of oily chloramphenicol depot injection to treat plague in a murine model

Effective low-cost single-dose therapy would be invaluable in treating huma n plague. The efficacy of single- or two-dose injections of oily chloramphe nicol (OCm) was compared with that of standard multiple injections of refer ence drugs (streptomycin or chloramphenicol) in a murine plague model. A si ngle injection of OCm was ineffective. Two doses cleared bacteraemia and li mited bacterial growth in the mouse spleen but were less effective in reduc ing mortality than standard therapy. However, because of the marked pharmac okinetic differences between mice and humans, the failure of depot injectio n of OCm in murine plague treatment is not indicative of its ineffectivenes s in human plague.