Abstract: Seventy days after inoculation of 1.0 × 10⁴ M.leprae to the foot-pads,the mice were treated with home-made ofloxacin 150mg/kg daily by gavage 5 times weekly for 63 days.The results showed that M.leprae multiplied well in the foot-pads of untreated mice,but no growth of M.lepare were found in the foot-pads of the mice treated with home-made ofloxacin,imported ofloxacin or rifampin until 12 months after infection of M.leprae.Eleven newly diagnosed and untreated BL/LL patients and 2 recently relapsed patients after dapsone monotherapy were treated with home--made ofloxacin 400mg daily 6 times weekly for 12 weeks.The results showed that the skin lesions of all patients markedly improved at the end of therapy.The mean morphological index(MI) in skin smear decreased from 11.89% before therapy to 2.59% at the end of 2 week treatment,and to 0% at the end of 4 week treatment.The mean bacteriological index(MI) decreased from 4.28 before therapy to 3.90 at the end of therapy.During the therapy,4 patients developed type Ⅱ lepra reaction,but all patients tolerated the drug well.The study showed that the therapeutic effect of home-made ofloxacin is similar to that of imported one as reported in the literature.The home-made ofloxacin can be used in multidrug therapy for leprosy.

Key words: Leprosy, Ofloxacin