Yaws can be cured by Azithromycin or benzathine penicillin:
- Azithromycin (single oral dose) at 30 mg/kg (maximum 2 g) is the preferred treatment.
- Benzathine penicillin (single intramuscular dose) 0.6 million units (children under 10 years of age) and 1.2 million units (persons over 10 years of age) may be used in case of failure of azithromycin treatment, or for patients who have a contraindication for azithromycin.
The follow up should be done 4 weeks after antibiotic treatment. Complete clinical healing will be observed in over 95% of cases. Any individual with presumed treatment failure requires macrolide resistance testing and treatment with benzathine penicillin. Sometimes, exploring alternative diagnoses might be considered.