Evaluation of the effectiveness of antibacterial substances in treating an experimental form of bubonic plague in monkeys]

The modelling of glandular plague and selection of the conditions for estimating the efficacy of new antibacterials for the treatment of the infection were performed on hamadryads (baboons). The experiments showed that the average LD50 of the culture of a highly virulent strain of Yersinia pestis on its subcutaneous administration to the animals was 2089 viable microbes. In 18 per cent of the episodes the experimental glandular plague in the animals was complicated by secondary plague pneumonia. Subcutaneous administration of 2 x 10(7) viable microbial cell of the plague pathogen caused acute sepsis and the animal death. The treatment of the experimental glandular plague in the hamadryads demonstrated that new antibacterials such as amikacin, netilmicin, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, ceftizoxime, doxycycline, rifampicin, ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were not inferior in their efficacy to streptomycin and tetracycline successfully used in the therapy of patients with plague.