Publication:

Single dose metronidazole, tinidazole and ornidazole in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis - a comparative study

Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge. There is a lack of consensus on the etiologic agents or agents associated with BV, due to polymicrobial nature. There is high recurrence rate of BV and it is difficult to treat. Metronidazole is the drug of choice but newer nitroimidazoles are better alternatives with long half-lives and better tolerability.

Methods This was a prospective, comparative, randomized, single blinded study on 120 diagnosed cases of bacterial vaginosis, with symptomatic or asymptomatic abnormal vaginal discharge. Amsel’s criteria were used to diagnose bacterial vaginosis as well as to assess the response and classify the patients as cured, partially cured and not cured. Statistical analysis was done by Chi square test. The cure rate was compared considering metronidazole cure rate as gold standard.

Results At 1 week, the cure rate of tinidazole and ornidazole was 89.5% in both the groups, and at 4 weeks, it was 84.5% for both drugs (P <0.001). Metronidazole showed a cure rate of 65.7% at 4 weeks.

Conclusions Tinidazole and ornidazole have better cure rate as compared to metronidazole in cases of bacterial vaginosis.