Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the US. An antibiotic side (adverse) effect is an unwanted reaction that occurs in addition to the desirable therapeutic action of the antibiotic. When used appropriately, antibiotics are relatively safe with very few side effects. However, like any drug, antibiotic side effects can occur and may interfere with the patient’s ability to tolerate and finish the course of medication.
Antibiotic reactions can range from mild allergic reactions to severe and debilitating adverse events. Antibiotic side effects are extremely variable from patient to patient and from antibiotic to antibiotic. However, there are some common side effects that may occur within antibiotic drug classes.
If a patient is experiencing a bothersome or serious antibiotic side effect, they should contact their health care provider. The outcomes may include staying on the same antibiotic and managing the side effect, adjusting the dose, or switching to a different antibiotic. Usually, antibiotic treatment should not be stopped without a health care provider’s approval. Stopping the antibiotic may allow the infection to worsen and may lead to antibiotic resistance. Even if the infection appears to have cleared up before all of the medication is gone, the full course of antibiotic treatment should always be completed unless told otherwise by a health care provider.
An antibiotic allergy or hypersensitivity reaction can happen with any drug, and allergies are one of the most common antibiotic side effects leading to emergency room admission.1 Health care providers should always be informed of any previous allergic reaction to any medication, including antibiotics. Mild allergic reactions may only result in a skin rash. More severe allergic reactions, called anaphylaxis, can lead to shortness of breath, wheezing, hives, and swelling of the face, lips or tongue. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical attention.
Antibiotics are used to kill bacterial infections; they are not effective against viral infections, such as a cold or the flu, or against fungal infections, like ringworm or vaginal yeast infections. The most common antibiotic classes and drug members are listed in Table 1, along with the most commonly reported antibiotic side effects. This is not a complete list of all available antibiotics or side effects that may occur.
In a 2008 study, antibiotic side effects led to greater than 140,000 emergency department admissions per year in the United States. Roughly 50 percent of emergency visits were due to reactions to antibiotics in the penicillin class of drugs, and the other 50 percent were due to a wide variety of antibiotics used to treat many different types of infections. In this study, children less than one year of age were found to have the highest rate of antibiotic side effects. Allergic reactions accounted for the most common type of side effect. It was estimated that over 142,000 emergency department visits per year were due to antibiotic adverse events, and approximately four-fifths of these events were due to allergic reactions. Allergic reactions can typically only be prevented by avoiding the drug, although desensitization may be possible in certain circumstances for patients who have no other antibiotic options.
poniedziałek, 5 listopada 2012
Cipro is responible for my severe stomach cramping?
You sound like you may be adversely reacting to the cipro. You need to give the prescribing doctor a call to inform him/her. You may need to change antibiotics. I have to ask, did you take 1000mgs at one time? The maximum recommended dose is 500mgs every 12 hours. The symptoms you are experiencing maybe explained by the dose you took.
If you haven't known, in the this website you can find all the information you want..side effects, interactions, and so on. I just say this as a reminder,but is always good to ask so you get other members' experiences.I don't use Cipro for my pain,but I've checked it just now for you and there are plenty information and different type of Cipros.You didn't state whether it was prescribed by your doctor or you got it by other means?Does Cipro come in lower mgs?If so,you'd better start low doses till your body get to know the med.Anyway,I checked the side effects and found that abdomen pain of all sorts are the most obvious ones,and will disappear gradually with time..If side effects persist,you doc definitely will give you other alternative med.
If you haven't known, in the this website you can find all the information you want..side effects, interactions, and so on. I just say this as a reminder,but is always good to ask so you get other members' experiences.I don't use Cipro for my pain,but I've checked it just now for you and there are plenty information and different type of Cipros.You didn't state whether it was prescribed by your doctor or you got it by other means?Does Cipro come in lower mgs?If so,you'd better start low doses till your body get to know the med.Anyway,I checked the side effects and found that abdomen pain of all sorts are the most obvious ones,and will disappear gradually with time..If side effects persist,you doc definitely will give you other alternative med.
How long does it take for Cipro to help Prostatitis
I would have thought you would have been on antibioitics for more than 3 days. I was always under the understanding that it was 10 days usually. I may have it wrong as I know for some of the newer drugs it 1 pill a day for 5 days. At any rate you are still having the same symptoms, so I would call or make an appointment with your physician. I think you need to let them know what's happening NOW. They make have you come in, or change or increase your meds. Good luck to you. I know how painful this can be because my hubby went thru it for quit some time.
Cipro
I can help you. Cipro does its damage by getting into your DNA and mutating it. There is a natural substance in your cells that can correct and reverse DNA damage and it's called glutathione. I am a glutathione expert, and I've had 2 people call me in the last month to report the same symptoms you are reporting, and I am able to help them by raising their glutathione with a natural, clinically proven and safe product called Immunocal. Please contact me if you'd like to start reversing the damage that's been done to you and get your life back
I have a immune problem and Cipro/Levaquin have been among the many antibiotics I have been given I too have added you as a friend, My first name is Billy my nae on here is Caringsonbj, I noted that Sweetlemon did the same thing, I can say one thing I do not doubt you and if you would like to add me as your friend then like Sweetlemon we will be able to discuss this with you, unlike her this is very interesting indeed. I am so sorry that you have had to encounter so much healthwise and then deal otherwise with the medical people what effects one person in a positive way does not always do the same for another. please feel free to contact us my first name is Billy and my name on here is Caringsonbj Welcome and I hope to hear from you.
Urinary Tract Infection
... resistant to most antibiotics now and then I discovered that taking 6000 - 8000 mg if vitamin C with rosehips daily has cleaned out my urinary tract within a few days to the point of having had a white discharge that is now gone and everything feels healthy again the way it use to before I kept getting all these uti's. I heard years ago that drinking lemon juice daily would do this but for me that wasn't enough and the vit. c in large doses is doing it. I was praying for a natural solution and sofar have not had another uti. I have been on a 4000 mg a day maintenance dose after the intial 1 week high dose. It can cause diarrhia but one can take something for that untill you get to a lower dose
I have tried the vitamin C but not the other things the only other things that I have tried is the Urologist told me to buy Northland Cranberry Juice and to drink about 8 ounces a day, she says that it is pure Cranberry Juice and also says that's another reason that it is more expensive. I use to have the UTI's so bad that I had to be hospitalized and have injectable/Intravenous antibiotics and my Colony counts were at least 100,000 they say that is pretty signifigant. I hope that you continue to do well I think I will add what you are using I do not want these to ever return like they once were. I wish you the very best
I just joined this group... I have had UTI's for about 1 year and 3 months, I have tried all the different anibiotics that first my OBGYN , later my Primay Care, and now my Urologist has perscribed, and my UTI's keep coming back. I try anything that anyone tells me to try. I have never heard of Vitamin C! Thanks for the advice, I will run out to the Vitamin Store and buy some. Is there a certain brand that you recommend?
I have tried the vitamin C but not the other things the only other things that I have tried is the Urologist told me to buy Northland Cranberry Juice and to drink about 8 ounces a day, she says that it is pure Cranberry Juice and also says that's another reason that it is more expensive. I use to have the UTI's so bad that I had to be hospitalized and have injectable/Intravenous antibiotics and my Colony counts were at least 100,000 they say that is pretty signifigant. I hope that you continue to do well I think I will add what you are using I do not want these to ever return like they once were. I wish you the very best
I just joined this group... I have had UTI's for about 1 year and 3 months, I have tried all the different anibiotics that first my OBGYN , later my Primay Care, and now my Urologist has perscribed, and my UTI's keep coming back. I try anything that anyone tells me to try. I have never heard of Vitamin C! Thanks for the advice, I will run out to the Vitamin Store and buy some. Is there a certain brand that you recommend?
Colds and flus
Colds and flus are NOT cured by antibiotics.
Information
Antibiotics will fight bacterial infections, but they do not treat viral infections such as colds and the flu. If you have a viral infection, antibiotics will NOT make you better.
Antibiotics can destroy normal ("healthy") bacteria that live in your body. This can result in symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, and vaginal yeast infections.
The overuse of antibiotics has played a role in the rise in drug-resistant bacterial infections. Taking antibiotics also poses a risk of allergic reaction, so they should not be taken when there is no possible benefit.
Information
Antibiotics will fight bacterial infections, but they do not treat viral infections such as colds and the flu. If you have a viral infection, antibiotics will NOT make you better.
Antibiotics can destroy normal ("healthy") bacteria that live in your body. This can result in symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, and vaginal yeast infections.
The overuse of antibiotics has played a role in the rise in drug-resistant bacterial infections. Taking antibiotics also poses a risk of allergic reaction, so they should not be taken when there is no possible benefit.
Antibiotics Over-prescribed for Strep
To prescribe or not to prescribe? About 50% of children who present with a sore throat receive antibiotics from their doctor- although at least two-thirds of the cases are likely to have a viral, rather than bacterial, origin, according to a new study.
Equally unsettling, only about half of physicians do a throat culture before giving children antibiotics for a sore throat, despite strong recommendations that children be tested for group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, according to a report by Jeffrey A Linder, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School and colleagues.
The report by Linder et al was published in the 9 November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported by MedPage Today on 9 November 2005.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Infectious Disease Society of America recommend testing for group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, according to MedPage Today.
Study Results
In a review of data from national ambulatory care surveys conducted during the period 1995-2003, Dr Linder et al found that, during approximately 7.3 million annual visits for sore throat, doctors prescribed antibiotics in about 53% of cases. This percentage is considerably higher than the 15-36% prevalence of strep throat.
Moreover, about 50% of children who received antibiotics got the wrong drugs, or a non-recommended drug (27%). Recommended agents include amoxicillin, penicillin, first-generation cephalosporins and erythromycin.
Antibiotics not recommended but often prescribed include other cephalosporins, extended spectrum macrolides (e.g., Zithromax [azithromycin], Biaxin [clarithromycin]), Augmentin [amoxicillin-clavulanate]) or other agents.
"Encouragingly, we found a significant decrease in the proportion of patients receiving antibiotics over the study period," Dr Linder and colleagues wrote. "However, even at the end of the study period, the proportion of children prescribed an antibiotic still exceeded the maximum expected prevalence of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci among children with sore throat."
Doctors performed a group A beta-hemolytic streptococci test in 53% of visits, and in 51% of visits at which they prescribed an antibiotic. Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci testing was not associated with a lower prescribing rate of antibiotics (48% tested versus 51% not tested), but testing was associated with a lower antibiotic prescribing rate for children with a diagnosis of pharyngitis, tonsillitis and streptococcal sore throat (57% tested versus 73% not tested).
Interestingly, the clinical setting where the children were seen made a difference. Non-pediatrician, primary-care doctors and emergency department staff were about half as likely to test for group A beta-hemolytic streptococci as pediatricians, and they were about 60% more likely to prescribe an antibiotic. However, children seen in emergency departments were less likely to get a non-recommended drug.
The results of the study suggest that, although a downward trend in prescribing antibiotics exists, children are still needlessly receiving antibiotics, the authors contended.
"Perhaps unique among upper respiratory tract infections, clinicians have good, objective criteria in the form of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci testing to guide the antibiotic treatment of children with sore throat," Dr Linder and colleagues wrote. "Limiting antibiotic prescribing to children with a positive group A beta-hemolytic streptococci test result is a feasible goal for primary care physicians and an important step toward judicious use of antibiotics overall."
In accompanying editorial, J Todd Weber, MD, of the Office of Antimicrobial Resistance at the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta concurred with the researchers.
"To ensure appropriate use of antimicrobial drugs, the issue must be addressed across all diseases and all sectors of society," Dr Weber wrote. "Failure to do so will result in wasting the valuable resource of effective antimicrobial agents-a resource that still could be preserved for some time to come."
Equally unsettling, only about half of physicians do a throat culture before giving children antibiotics for a sore throat, despite strong recommendations that children be tested for group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, according to a report by Jeffrey A Linder, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School and colleagues.
The report by Linder et al was published in the 9 November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported by MedPage Today on 9 November 2005.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Infectious Disease Society of America recommend testing for group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, according to MedPage Today.
Study Results
In a review of data from national ambulatory care surveys conducted during the period 1995-2003, Dr Linder et al found that, during approximately 7.3 million annual visits for sore throat, doctors prescribed antibiotics in about 53% of cases. This percentage is considerably higher than the 15-36% prevalence of strep throat.
Moreover, about 50% of children who received antibiotics got the wrong drugs, or a non-recommended drug (27%). Recommended agents include amoxicillin, penicillin, first-generation cephalosporins and erythromycin.
Antibiotics not recommended but often prescribed include other cephalosporins, extended spectrum macrolides (e.g., Zithromax [azithromycin], Biaxin [clarithromycin]), Augmentin [amoxicillin-clavulanate]) or other agents.
"Encouragingly, we found a significant decrease in the proportion of patients receiving antibiotics over the study period," Dr Linder and colleagues wrote. "However, even at the end of the study period, the proportion of children prescribed an antibiotic still exceeded the maximum expected prevalence of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci among children with sore throat."
Doctors performed a group A beta-hemolytic streptococci test in 53% of visits, and in 51% of visits at which they prescribed an antibiotic. Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci testing was not associated with a lower prescribing rate of antibiotics (48% tested versus 51% not tested), but testing was associated with a lower antibiotic prescribing rate for children with a diagnosis of pharyngitis, tonsillitis and streptococcal sore throat (57% tested versus 73% not tested).
Interestingly, the clinical setting where the children were seen made a difference. Non-pediatrician, primary-care doctors and emergency department staff were about half as likely to test for group A beta-hemolytic streptococci as pediatricians, and they were about 60% more likely to prescribe an antibiotic. However, children seen in emergency departments were less likely to get a non-recommended drug.
The results of the study suggest that, although a downward trend in prescribing antibiotics exists, children are still needlessly receiving antibiotics, the authors contended.
"Perhaps unique among upper respiratory tract infections, clinicians have good, objective criteria in the form of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci testing to guide the antibiotic treatment of children with sore throat," Dr Linder and colleagues wrote. "Limiting antibiotic prescribing to children with a positive group A beta-hemolytic streptococci test result is a feasible goal for primary care physicians and an important step toward judicious use of antibiotics overall."
In accompanying editorial, J Todd Weber, MD, of the Office of Antimicrobial Resistance at the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta concurred with the researchers.
"To ensure appropriate use of antimicrobial drugs, the issue must be addressed across all diseases and all sectors of society," Dr Weber wrote. "Failure to do so will result in wasting the valuable resource of effective antimicrobial agents-a resource that still could be preserved for some time to come."
Antibiotics from a Mushroom
It's just a little black mushroom, but researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center are contending that Pseudoplectania nigrella, found in the woods of northern Europe, may spawn a powerful new class of antibiotics and antivirals.
"I think we are looking at a whole new world of antibiotics," said Michael Zasloff, MD, PhD, of Georgetown University Medical Center. Zasloff and colleagues' discovery was published in the 13 October issue of Nature and reported by MedPage Today on 13 October.
What's Plectasin
"Animals and higher plants express endogenous peptide antibiotics called defensins," write the investigators in their Nature article. "These small cysteine-rich peptides are active against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Here we describe plectasin-the first defensin to be isolated from a fungus-Pseudoplectania nigrella."
According to Zasloff, plectasin was tested against a range of bacteria, including streptococcus, enterococcus and staphylococcus, and other defensins have demonstrated anti-viral activity. He added that the existence of about 200,000 other species of fungus make it likely that many more fungal defensins will be found-among which may be highly targeted antimicrobial drugs that will supersede the current generation of broad-spectrum drugs.
"I think we as physicians are going to see assembly of a large number of antimicrobial peptides targeted against specific organisms, including viruses," Zasloff said, according to MedPage Today.
The researchers used a recombinant form of plectasin produced by Danish biotech company, Novozymes, who produced the plectasin at a commercially viable price, yield and purity, Dr. Zasloff reportedly said.
What the Studies Show
In in vitro studies, recombinant plectasin showed high activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, including strains that are resistant to conventional antibiotics. In animal studies, plectasin showed extremely low toxicity in mice, while curing them of experimental pneumonia and peritonitis caused by S. pneumoniae as effecively as established antibiotics vancomycin and penicillin.
Despite plectasin's apparently low toxicity in mice, Zasloff reportedly said that further studies are necessary to determine if plectasin is safe for humans. However, he believes it is likely that the efficacy seen in mice will also be seen in humans, as the bacterial targets would be identical. Moreover, plectasin is excreted unchanged in mice's urine, which supports its safety and efficacy.
Why a Recombinant?
Plectasin's discovery could not have occurred using conventional techniques, according to Zasloff, in which the fungi would be grown in liquid cultures and tested for antimicrobial activity.
"When this mushroom is grown in the lab, it doesn't produce much plectasin," he reportedly said. Instead, Novozymes researchers went "scouring through the genetic messages" of wild fungi to find genes that code for specific molecules. "One of them coded for what we could clearly see was a defensin."
Now, a walk near his home brings dozens of mushrooms to Zasloff's attention, according to MedPage Today. "It's hard not to go back to the lab and see what they're making."
"I think we are looking at a whole new world of antibiotics," said Michael Zasloff, MD, PhD, of Georgetown University Medical Center. Zasloff and colleagues' discovery was published in the 13 October issue of Nature and reported by MedPage Today on 13 October.
What's Plectasin
"Animals and higher plants express endogenous peptide antibiotics called defensins," write the investigators in their Nature article. "These small cysteine-rich peptides are active against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Here we describe plectasin-the first defensin to be isolated from a fungus-Pseudoplectania nigrella."
According to Zasloff, plectasin was tested against a range of bacteria, including streptococcus, enterococcus and staphylococcus, and other defensins have demonstrated anti-viral activity. He added that the existence of about 200,000 other species of fungus make it likely that many more fungal defensins will be found-among which may be highly targeted antimicrobial drugs that will supersede the current generation of broad-spectrum drugs.
"I think we as physicians are going to see assembly of a large number of antimicrobial peptides targeted against specific organisms, including viruses," Zasloff said, according to MedPage Today.
The researchers used a recombinant form of plectasin produced by Danish biotech company, Novozymes, who produced the plectasin at a commercially viable price, yield and purity, Dr. Zasloff reportedly said.
What the Studies Show
In in vitro studies, recombinant plectasin showed high activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, including strains that are resistant to conventional antibiotics. In animal studies, plectasin showed extremely low toxicity in mice, while curing them of experimental pneumonia and peritonitis caused by S. pneumoniae as effecively as established antibiotics vancomycin and penicillin.
Despite plectasin's apparently low toxicity in mice, Zasloff reportedly said that further studies are necessary to determine if plectasin is safe for humans. However, he believes it is likely that the efficacy seen in mice will also be seen in humans, as the bacterial targets would be identical. Moreover, plectasin is excreted unchanged in mice's urine, which supports its safety and efficacy.
Why a Recombinant?
Plectasin's discovery could not have occurred using conventional techniques, according to Zasloff, in which the fungi would be grown in liquid cultures and tested for antimicrobial activity.
"When this mushroom is grown in the lab, it doesn't produce much plectasin," he reportedly said. Instead, Novozymes researchers went "scouring through the genetic messages" of wild fungi to find genes that code for specific molecules. "One of them coded for what we could clearly see was a defensin."
Now, a walk near his home brings dozens of mushrooms to Zasloff's attention, according to MedPage Today. "It's hard not to go back to the lab and see what they're making."
Women and Antibiotics
Antibiotics are safe and effective medications prescribed to treat bacterial infections.
Here are possible side effects that women should be aware of before using these medications, courtesy of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics:
Yeast infections.
Diarrhea, upset stomach and vaginal infections.
Decreased effectiveness of birth control pills.
Certain antibiotics should not be taken by a woman who is pregnant or nursing, unless prescribed by a physician who is familiar with the woman's condition.
Antibiotics can interact with many other medications
Here are possible side effects that women should be aware of before using these medications, courtesy of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics:
Yeast infections.
Diarrhea, upset stomach and vaginal infections.
Decreased effectiveness of birth control pills.
Certain antibiotics should not be taken by a woman who is pregnant or nursing, unless prescribed by a physician who is familiar with the woman's condition.
Antibiotics can interact with many other medications
Knowing when to take antibiotics - and when not to - can help fight the rise of deadly "superbugs," say experts at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About half of antibiotics prescribed are unnecessary or inappropriate, the agency says, and overuse has helped create bacteria that don't respond, or respond less effectively, to the drugs used to fight them.
"Antibiotics are a shared resource that has become a scarce resource," said Dr. Lauri Hicks, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. She's also medical director a of new program, Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, that had its launch this week. "Everyone has a role to play in preventing the spread of antibiotic resistance," Hicks said.
The stakes are high, said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, CDC's associate director for health care-associated infection prevention programs. Almost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment, he said.
The CDC is urging Americans to use the drugs properly to help prevent the global problem of antibiotic resistance. To that end, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), numerous national medical and scientific associations, as well as state and local health departments have collaborated on the CDC's Get Smart initiative.
Most strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are still found in health care settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Yet superbugs, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) -- which kills about 19,000 Americans a year -- are increasingly found in community settings, such as health clubs, schools, and workplaces, said Hicks.
Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), a strain that affects healthy people outside of hospitals, made headlines in 2008, when it killed a Florida high school football player.
Referring to recent reports of sinusitis caused by MRSA, Hicks said that "people who would normally be treated with an oral antibiotic are requiring more toxic medications or, in some instances, admission to a hospital. We've seen this with pneumonia, too, and I worry we'll start to see it with other types of infections as well."
Other infections that resist antibiotic treatment include:
E. coli. A new strain, ST131, was a major cause of serious resistant infections in the United States in 2007, a study published this year in Clinical Infectious Diseases found. If the strain gains one more resistance gene, the study said, it may become almost untreatable.
Gonorrhea. Only one last class of antibiotics -- cephalosporin--is recommended to treat this sexually transmitted disease.
XDR-TB (extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis). While many TB strains resist at least one antibiotic used to treat them, XDR-TB is resistant to virtually all of them.
Just as antibiotic resistance is rising, the antibiotic arsenal is shrinking. The FDA has approved just 10 new antibiotics since 1998. "But in our opinion, it's as important to improve [antibiotic] use as it is to develop new drugs," said Srinivasan.
Antibiotic resistance has two main causes, said Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University's Langone Medical Center. The first is overprescribing.
"About six billion prescriptions are written annually in this country, about half of them for antibiotics," he said. "Of those written for antibiotics, the CDC thinks about half are improper."
Second, food animals such as chickens, cattle and hogs are given massive amounts of antibiotics, mainly to spur growth. "Of the 25 million pounds of antibiotics given to livestock per year, only three million pounds are given to treat disease," said Tierno. Earlier this year, concerns about antibiotic resistance led the FDA to recommend that farmers stop using antibiotics to promote growth in livestock.
To protect antibiotics' effectiveness, the CDC recommends the following:
Take the antibiotic exactly as prescribed, and finish it even if you start to feel better. That way, bacteria can't survive and re-infect you.
Throw out leftover antibiotics.
Don't ask your doctor for an antibiotic if you have a cold or the flu. They're caused by viruses, so antibiotics won't help.
If you think you have strep throat, ask to be tested. Only a test can tell if your sore throat is caused by a bacterial infection and thus requires an antibiotic.
Don't take an antibiotic prescribed for someone else. Taking the wrong medicine may delay the right treatment and allow bacteria to multiply.
If your child has an ear infection, watch and wait. This method is the best way to treat childhood ear infections, which are often caused by a virus, according to a new study published this week the Journal of the American Medical Association .
About half of antibiotics prescribed are unnecessary or inappropriate, the agency says, and overuse has helped create bacteria that don't respond, or respond less effectively, to the drugs used to fight them.
"Antibiotics are a shared resource that has become a scarce resource," said Dr. Lauri Hicks, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. She's also medical director a of new program, Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, that had its launch this week. "Everyone has a role to play in preventing the spread of antibiotic resistance," Hicks said.
The stakes are high, said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, CDC's associate director for health care-associated infection prevention programs. Almost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment, he said.
The CDC is urging Americans to use the drugs properly to help prevent the global problem of antibiotic resistance. To that end, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), numerous national medical and scientific associations, as well as state and local health departments have collaborated on the CDC's Get Smart initiative.
Most strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are still found in health care settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Yet superbugs, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) -- which kills about 19,000 Americans a year -- are increasingly found in community settings, such as health clubs, schools, and workplaces, said Hicks.
Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), a strain that affects healthy people outside of hospitals, made headlines in 2008, when it killed a Florida high school football player.
Referring to recent reports of sinusitis caused by MRSA, Hicks said that "people who would normally be treated with an oral antibiotic are requiring more toxic medications or, in some instances, admission to a hospital. We've seen this with pneumonia, too, and I worry we'll start to see it with other types of infections as well."
Other infections that resist antibiotic treatment include:
E. coli. A new strain, ST131, was a major cause of serious resistant infections in the United States in 2007, a study published this year in Clinical Infectious Diseases found. If the strain gains one more resistance gene, the study said, it may become almost untreatable.
Gonorrhea. Only one last class of antibiotics -- cephalosporin--is recommended to treat this sexually transmitted disease.
XDR-TB (extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis). While many TB strains resist at least one antibiotic used to treat them, XDR-TB is resistant to virtually all of them.
Just as antibiotic resistance is rising, the antibiotic arsenal is shrinking. The FDA has approved just 10 new antibiotics since 1998. "But in our opinion, it's as important to improve [antibiotic] use as it is to develop new drugs," said Srinivasan.
Antibiotic resistance has two main causes, said Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University's Langone Medical Center. The first is overprescribing.
"About six billion prescriptions are written annually in this country, about half of them for antibiotics," he said. "Of those written for antibiotics, the CDC thinks about half are improper."
Second, food animals such as chickens, cattle and hogs are given massive amounts of antibiotics, mainly to spur growth. "Of the 25 million pounds of antibiotics given to livestock per year, only three million pounds are given to treat disease," said Tierno. Earlier this year, concerns about antibiotic resistance led the FDA to recommend that farmers stop using antibiotics to promote growth in livestock.
To protect antibiotics' effectiveness, the CDC recommends the following:
Take the antibiotic exactly as prescribed, and finish it even if you start to feel better. That way, bacteria can't survive and re-infect you.
Throw out leftover antibiotics.
Don't ask your doctor for an antibiotic if you have a cold or the flu. They're caused by viruses, so antibiotics won't help.
If you think you have strep throat, ask to be tested. Only a test can tell if your sore throat is caused by a bacterial infection and thus requires an antibiotic.
Don't take an antibiotic prescribed for someone else. Taking the wrong medicine may delay the right treatment and allow bacteria to multiply.
If your child has an ear infection, watch and wait. This method is the best way to treat childhood ear infections, which are often caused by a virus, according to a new study published this week the Journal of the American Medical Association .
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