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question about azithromycin


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I read an old post by EAmom about azithromycin, and have a question. She was talking about the possible bad effects.

 

Does this mean that azithromycin will help strep and pneumonia, but will make the body stop fighting against ordinary things like the flu or a cold, whereas pen v will still keep the body fighting against things?

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Hi Cristo,

 

Azithromycin is a broader spectrum antibiotic than penicillin. Penicillin pretty much only goes after extracellular GABHS as long as it is replicating rapidly. It does this by disrupting the cell wall of the GABHS.

 

With respect to viruses (i.e., flu or cold), azithromycin (or any antibiotic) won't be effective against those. The typical "bad side effects" are that long term use of azithromycin will likely enable replication of azithromycin resistant strains. This happens because bacteria basically wants to grow and if you clear out a bunch of gram positive bacteria -- anything left grows in its place. Usually this isn't a problem but occassionally not so nice stuff is lurking around and can grow instead of what was there. This is why a probiotic is usually recommended so you put back non-harmful stuff.

 

 

Regards,

 

Buster

 

I read an old post by EAmom about azithromycin, and have a question. She was talking about the possible bad effects.

 

Does this mean that azithromycin will help strep and pneumonia, but will make the body stop fighting against ordinary things like the flu or a cold, whereas pen v will still keep the body fighting against things?

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Hi Cristo,

 

Azithromycin is a broader spectrum antibiotic than penicillin. Penicillin pretty much only goes after extracellular GABHS as long as it is replicating rapidly. It does this by disrupting the cell wall of the GABHS.

 

With respect to viruses (i.e., flu or cold), azithromycin (or any antibiotic) won't be effective against those. The typical "bad side effects" are that long term use of azithromycin will likely enable replication of azithromycin resistant strains. This happens because bacteria basically wants to grow and if you clear out a bunch of gram positive bacteria -- anything left grows in its place. Usually this isn't a problem but occassionally not so nice stuff is lurking around and can grow instead of what was there. This is why a probiotic is usually recommended so you put back non-harmful stuff.

 

 

Regards,

 

Buster

 

Hi,

How do we know if a child has a flu, cold, or a bacterial infection? I read in a book about germs that said that 97% of fevers are viral, which to me means that 3% are not. How do we test?

 

I have been ordering azithromycin for my child whenever he gets run down and has a fever, because I notice these tic things coming out in him, and am really afraid of him experiencing what he did when he suddenly changed last year. I am actually afraid for him, and for my family, because we all were hit really hard, waching him transform. I am trying so hard to prevent it from happening. I hope that I have not screwed up my son, by giving him azithromycin repeatedly. What are your thoughts Buster?

 

Cristopher

I read an old post by EAmom about azithromycin, and have a question. She was talking about the possible bad effects.

 

Does this mean that azithromycin will help strep and pneumonia, but will make the body stop fighting against ordinary things like the flu or a cold, whereas pen v will still keep the body fighting against things?

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Hi Christo,

 

Take a deep breath. Okay, you haven't done any harm with giving azith. Azith is used in long term prophylaxis for a number of diseases (most notably cystic fibrosis). The reason doctors don't want you to arbitrarily just give azith for every flu/cold/infection is that azith is really only useful for gram positive bacteria. In addition, macrolides (such as azith) tend to lose effectiveness over time on certain bacteria that mutate in how they replicate. These are called resistant strains. Most bacteria are kept in check by other bacteria using up all the building blocks. So when you use an antibiotics, you tend to allow stuff not affected by the antibiotic to grow (because you've stopped the gram-positive stuff from replicating).

 

The probability that your child has developed a resistant strain of a bacteria is very very small, but it is there. If you have enough kids (say 42 million in the US) and each one is getting antibiotics for every cold/... then there is a good chance that a resistant strain is created. This is why prophylaxis is basically only recommended when you've got a good reason to think that colonization or infection will cause a more severe reaction (as is the case in Acute Rheumatic Fever or Sydenham Chorea).

 

I don't know enough about your case to give you advice one way or the other, but if your child has sudden onset OCD associated with infections and these remit on antibiotics, then I think the evidence is that the antibiotics are way less dangerous than the known side effects of the atypical anti-psychotics or SSRIs often prescribed for OCD and worth a try.

 

Regards,

 

Buster

 

Hi,

How do we know if a child has a flu, cold, or a bacterial infection? I read in a book about germs that said that 97% of fevers are viral, which to me means that 3% are not. How do we test?

 

I have been ordering azithromycin for my child whenever he gets run down and has a fever, because I notice these tic things coming out in him, and am really afraid of him experiencing what he did when he suddenly changed last year. I am actually afraid for him, and for my family, because we all were hit really hard, waching him transform. I am trying so hard to prevent it from happening. I hope that I have not screwed up my son, by giving him azithromycin repeatedly. What are your thoughts Buster?

 

Cristopher

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