Amoxil and pregnancy

With a "narrow-spectrum" antibiotic like amoxicillin, the consequence

may

Take an antibiotic only if your doctor deems it necessary. Whether you're prescribed amoxicillin, Augmentin, or another antibiotic, it's not so much the "strength" of the drug you should be concerned about; it's all about the safety, efficacy, and appropriateness of treatment.

People are sometimes surprised, and even taken aback, when they are given amoxicillin for a serious infection such as pneumonia.

But in many cases that may be all that is needed to resolve the infection. If you don't believe that the antibiotic being prescribed is "strong enough," speak with your doctor. This is especially true if you have a new doctor or don't see a doctor all that often. If you've had recurrent infections in the past for which amoxicillin hasn't helped, let the doctor know.

The more your doctor knows about your previous antibiotic use, the better choices he or she can make. Amoxicillin Doesn't Help Some Respiratory Infections. The next time you develop a lower respiratory tract infection, don't expect amoxicillin, the go-to antibiotic for these infections, to wipe it out.

According to a new study, amoxicillin isn’t any better than a placebo at treating the symptoms of a lower respiratory tract infection or preventing them from worsening. Amoxicillin is typically used to treat lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and acute bronchitis.

British researchers treated 1,038 patients who had an acute lower respiratory tract infection with amoxicillin three times per day for seven days.

A second group of 1,023 patients who also had a lower respiratory tract infection were treated with a placebo for the same period.

The patients were age 18 or older and hailed from 12 European countries.

All had had a cough for less than 28 days and were not suspected of having pneumonia. Doctors assessed everyone's symptoms at the start of the study and study participants kept a daily diary, recording symptoms such as the severity of their cough, the presence of phlegm, shortness of breath, wheezing, a blocked or runny nose, chest pain, muscle aches, headaches, disturbed sleep and fever. They also rated each symptom, using a scale that ranged from "no problem" to "as bad as it could be." Everyone also recorded non-respiratory tract

symptoms

At the end of the week, the researchers found very little difference in the severity or duration of symptoms between the two groups.

Even among people 60 and older, who were in otherwise good health, the antibiotics had minimal effect.

Symptoms rated "moderately bad" or "worse" lasted a median of six days in the group that took the amoxicillin and seven days in the group that took the placebo. More people who took the placebo had new or worsening symptoms compared to those who took amoxicillin — 19.3 percent versus 15.9 percent.

But that difference was offset by the high number of people — 30 — who needed to be treated with amoxicillin to prevent one case of worsening symptoms. Just three people in the study were hospitalized — two who took antibiotics and one who took the placebo.

People who took amoxicillin had many more side effects than those who took the placebo.

Nearly 29 percent of those who took amoxicillin reported side effects such as diarrhea, nausea and rash. By contrast, 14 percent of those in the placebo group experienced side effects.

"Our results show that most people get better on their own," researcher Paul Little, of the University of Southampton in the U.K., said in a statement.

"Using amoxicillin to treat respiratory infections in patients not suspected of having pneumonia is not likely to help and could be harmful." What's more, overuse of amoxicillin can contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The researchers acknowledge that a small number of people would benefit from amoxicillin. They also can’t say whether or not the antibiotic would have helped older people who are seriously ill.

The challenge, they wrote, is to "identify these individuals." In general, they said, "Amoxicillin provides little symptomatic benefit for patients presenting in primary care who are judged to have clinically uncomplicated lower-respiratory-tract infections." Because of this, they added, "any mild, short-term benefits of antibiotic treatment should be balanced against the risks of side effects and, in the long-term, of fostering resistance." The study appears online Dec.

Pass It On : Amoxicillin doesn't help in treating most lower respiratory tract infections. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND.

Why antibiotics can't be used to treat your cold or flu. It’s understandable that when you’re sick, or when someone you’re caring for is sick, all you want is a medicine that will make everything better. Unfortunately when it comes to viruses like those that cause

colds

Antibiotics are used to treat infections caused by bacteria.

Bacteria are very small organisms, and billions of them live in and on your body. Most of the time these bacteria are harmless or even helpful for your body, like those that help you to digest food, but some bacteria can cause diseases.

There are two types of antibiotics that work to stop bacterial infections. Some slow down the growth of bacteria and damage their ability to reproduce and spread, while others kill the bacteria by destroying the bacteria cell walls. The choice of antibiotic depends on the type of bacteria.

Viruses are different to bacteria; they have a different structure and a different way of surviving.

Viruses don’t have cell walls that can be attacked by antibiotics; instead they are surrounded by a protective protein coat.

Unlike bacteria, which attack your body’s cells from the outside, viruses actually move into, live in and make copies of themselves in your body’s cells.

Viruses can't reproduce on their own, like bacteria do, instead they attach themselves to healthy cells and reprogram those cells to make new viruses.

It is because of all of these differences that antibiotics don’t work on viruses.

You might have heard the phrase that a virus has to ‘run its course’. This means waiting for your body’s immune system to fight off the viral infection by itself by activating an immune response. If you have a cold or the flu, during this time you might experience symptoms like: a runny or blocked nose sore throat headache fever cough and muscle aches.

Resting in bed, drinking plenty of fluids (particularly water) and taking over-the-counter medication to relieve symptoms will help you recover from a virus.