Questions tagged [antibiotics]
A class of drugs used to treat bacterial infections. They function by inhibiting the growth of, or by killing bacteria.
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Why is erythromycin eye ointment required for newborns even if the mother doesn't have any STDs?
Erythromycin eye ointment is used on newborns shortly after birth to prevent chlamydial or gonorrheal infection in the baby's eyes.
In many states, this is required by law regardless of whether the ...
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How does the duration of antibiotic course impact gut flora?
It is well-known that antibiotic use reduces the diversity of natural gut flora.
Have there been any studies that look into how the magnitude of this effect may differ between longer and shorter ...
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Physiologic basis behind increased survival with double coverage for community acquired pneumonia
Double coverage (generally cephalosporin + macrolide) is currently the recommended treatment for patients hospitalised with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) [1]. This seems mainly to be due to ...
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Why is the antibiotic Sulfamethoxazole on its own is considered bacteriostatic and in combination with Trimethoprim it is considered bactericidal?
I am reading about sulfonamides and I see that Sulfamethoxazole is considered to be bacteriostatic on its own, but when combined with Trimethoprim, the combination is considered bactericidal, and I am ...
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Local antibiotic injections to manage or treat external bacterial infections
Why not inject an antibiotic locally (directly into a lesion, ensuring it penetrates the matrix due to an efficient and effective dosage being administered in the right location)? I have done a fair ...
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Does "gram negative" generally indicate highly antibiotics resistant bacteria strains?
I must admit that I am an absolute medical layman, trying to keep myself informed at best though.
Today I had a consultation at my dermatologist about a bad healing wound I have, to talk about the ...
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Tick bite treatment. Doxycycline intake suspended after 3 days only. If substituted by Bactrim, is there a risk to develop bacteria resistant?
A patient was bitten by a tick and carried the tick on his skin for 5/6 days (which got engorged at the end).
Then the tick dropped spontaneously.
He has been prescribed a preventive antibiotic course ...
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Are antibiotics the only class of drugs whose effectiveness reduces over time?
The phenomenon of antibiotic resistance is well known: an antibiotic is effective when first introduced to the market, but over the years, its effectiveness decreases as resistant strains of bacteria ...
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Why bother prescribing oral antibiotics for acne, when C. acnes can't all be killed and will regrow?
After topical antibiotics and/or retinoid and/or benzoyl peroxide, dermatologists commonly prescribe oral antibiotics, but why?
Presume that the patient dutifully consumes the full prescribed course ...
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Can josamycin be taken by a man? [closed]
I'm researching on such a component as josamycin. It is actively subscribed to women to treat urethral infection. The question is, can it be taken by men with the same effectiveness?
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Use of antibiotics with chest infections
I would like to have a confusing part of medicine cleared up. My experience of medical intervention is as follows.
As pointed out in the answer to Does taking antibiotics make you immune to virus? ...
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Is kiwi safe to eat during antibiotic therapy? [closed]
I look for information about if it is safe to eat a Kiwi fruit during antibiotic therapy.
I know that the fruit is source of calcium so it can weaken absorption of drug so time delay before and after ...
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Why are bacteriophage viruses so infrequently used in the western countries?
Bacteriophages are, in eastern countries including Russia, a pretty common, or at least well known, approach to get rid of bacterial infections.
(This is discussed in How Dangerous Are Superbugs ...
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Why is Tobramycin prescribed for ear infections?
Tobramycin is ototoxic and in some individuals with genetic predisposition Tobramycin can apparently cause rapid permanent balance and hearing loss.
Yet, at least where I live, Tobramycin is ...
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Does treatment with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine eliminate reservoirs of Toxoplasma gondii?
Toxoplasma gondii is known to be one of many pathogens that sequesters away in nerve cells, as well as cysts in the muscles and liver, to avoid the immune system. Standard treatment for severe ...
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Is taking too much antibiotics in relation to antibiotics resistance a problem for the patient or population?
Imagine a patient who gets multiple treatments with antibiotics, and didn't really need them (bacterial infection, but would have gotten healthy without antibiotics). Is it the same patient who is at ...
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When taking antibiotics, does every single germ have to die?
When I get sick and need to take antibiotics, I get admonished to carry the treatment until the end, otherwise I am breeding antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Does this mean that when I finish the ...
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Do antibiotic-resistant bacteria present greater danger than related strains prior to development of antibiotics?
Are antibiotic-resistant bacteria more dangerous besides their resistance?
I am aware of the way things were before the first antibiotics: people died from infections often and diseases like syphilis ...
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No firm evidence for restoration of gut bacteria by probiotics?
I read two online articles on the use of probiotics to help maintain balance of gut bacteria when undergoing antibiotic treatment:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-to-eat-antibiotics
https://...
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Why do doxycycline pills also contain lactose?
Prescriptions in the UK contain doxycycline as doxycycline hyclate. They are also listed as containing lactose.
Why is the lactose helpful?
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Streptococcus pyogenes mutation and recurrence
Does the bacteria that cause strep throat also mutates, just like the virus that cause flu?
In the same season, is it possible for a person to be infected multiple times (concurrently or not) by the ...
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Is there solid evidence, that antibiotics cause allergies?
I have read, that the use of antibiotics could be part of the reason for the increase in allergies, we see today.
In alternative medicine circles, it is a common theme to reduce the use of ...
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Do doxycycline and ciprofloxacin decrease each others effectiveness?
I was taking doxycycline for an infection of streptococcus spp. causing epididymitis. I was healing under this antibiotic, then the doctor added ciprofloxacin to my treatment, so I am taking 100 mg of ...
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What to do if someone mistakenly ingests food contraindicated by medication requirements?
In the past I have read a couple of times that one should not consume milk-based-products when taking certain medication for a certain amount of time before and after taking the product. To be a ...
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Antibiotics only if fractured?
My 3 year old daughter got her pinky finger closed in the door last night. It broke the skin. We took her to urgent care and they did an x-ray. While waiting for the results, the tech said that if ...
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Demodex control with antibiotics: why and how?
Wikipedia says:
Demodex folliculorum is a microscopic mite that can only survive on the skin of people. Most people have D. folliculorum on their skin. Usually, the mites do not cause any harm, ...
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Why should we finish antibiotic treatments in order to prevent antibiotics resistance?
I understand bacteria can mutate and develop resistance against antibiotics, but I do not understand how finishing an antibiotics treatment prevents this.
In my simple thought process, when an ...
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Single antibiotic dose for infection prevention in teeth surgery: Bad idea? [closed]
I was given a single dose of (I think) amoxicillin before teeth surgery to prevent infection. Appartently this is a common and accepted practice.
Doesn't this promote the development of antibiotic ...
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Why can chronic prostatitis not be cured simply with antibiotics?
Acute bacterial prostatitis can be cured with antibiotics while chronic prostatitis cannot be cured by antibiotics.
Why is this the case?
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Do infected family members need to be treated with antibiotics at the same time?
When antibiotics become necessary I assume that the body can not kill the bacteria on its own and there are no useful anti bodies being built.
So in a case where the child is treated with antibiotics ...
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Should mixtures of antibiotics become standard practice to curb antibiotic resistance?
Intuitively the standard practice of using only 1 antibiotic for a standard (non-resistant) infection poses the highest risk of developing resistance (because the bacterial population only has to beat ...
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Natural treatment of chronic prostatitis - Does herbal medicines have side affects?
I have had prostatitis for several years. Since almost all antibiotics were not helpful to me due to drug resistance, I am trying to find some natural treatment of chronic prostatitis, so I Googled ...
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Can acne bacteria become resistant to Clindamycin?
Clindamycinum is an antibiotic used to treat skin and vaginal infections. Can people use Clindamycinum for more than 60 days or will the bacteria become resistant to it?
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It is possible to kill staph. aureus in tonsils with antibiotics or citricidal? [closed]
It is possible to kill staph. aureus in tonsils with antibiotics? Because i ve heard that it just disappear for few days or weeks. But on the other hand i heard some people heal it with citricidal. ...
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Why stomach ulcer need more than one antibiotic at the same time?
Almost all treatment recommendation for gastritis, duodenitis or peptic ulcer that has Helicobacter pylori, calls for 2 or 3 antibiotic at the same time, why is that ?
Why not use a single effective ...
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Why should I avoid milk when on antibiotics?
I'm taking antibiotics (specifically, amoxicillin clavulanate) to fight off an ear infection. As she prescribed my antibiotics, my doctor told me not to eat milk products for a few days, then only eat ...
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APC cells - autoreactivity [closed]
How can APC cells become autoreactiv against own antigens if they only have PRR as recognition complexes - and are not under central/peripheral immune tolerance?
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Resistance of Bacteria to Antibiotics after fall-back
If an infection comes back a few weeks after taking antibiotics, because the full dose and prescribed amount of antibiotics wasn't taken, does this mean that the bacteria is now immune to that ...
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How to avoid general weakness when taking antibiotics [closed]
After taking antibiotics for a couple of days, I feel a general sense of weakness in my body. This includes physical weakness (tiredness, shortness of breath) and mental weakness (difficulty of ...
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Can using moisturiser make acne worse? [closed]
Over the last few weeks, I've started breaking out with medium-to-severe acne, and in an attempt to clear it up in the short-term I've been using the T-Zone Skin Clearing Face Moisturiser. However, I'...
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What are the reasons for the major decline in the rate of newly discovered antibiotics?
What are the reasons for the major decline in the rate of newly discovered antibiotics, which we have been experiencing over the last years?
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Does taking antibiotics make you immune to virus?
Let's say someone has a virus and the doctor prescribed him to take him antibiotics, while taking the antibiotics can he be effected with another type of virus or the antibiotics will make him immune ...
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How do doctors decide on the duration of an antibiotic regimen?
Many upper respiratory infections, otitis media in children, sinusitis and other infections, are treated with antibiotics (if these are bacterial infections, of course). Doctors usually prescribe a ...
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Is there any test to identify bacteria?
When I got some upper respiratory infection the doctor always prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics like amoxicillin. Is there any test to identify bacteria, and if so, why doesn't the doctor order ...
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How serious is the antibiotic resistance problem?
I found figures and numbers on CDC and WHO, while the general public may have little idea about those numbers, such as how many people "normally" die from such disease.
Can anyone provide some easy-...
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How long can you take tetracycline in the treatment of acne?
I received a prescription on unidox solutab against staphylococcus. I've been taking this drug for 4 months and everything looked fine, acne disappeared 3 months ago. Now akne started to appear again ...
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What to do about a dental infection? [closed]
I have an infection in my gums, similar to the picture below. The 'pimple' has gotten bigger and than shrank back down but never disappeared.Mine being only one and much smaller. Besides taking ...
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Is it necessary to take antibiotics after medical/dental treatment? [closed]
Usually I don't take antibiotics when I take medicines according to a prescription.
Is it necessary to take antibiotics when I am bleeding in my body, for example, in my gum or teeth?
I thought I do ...
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If I take probiotics and antibiotics at the same time, which one wins?
Okay, I couldn't resist that title.
Seriously though, since antibiotics can cause indigestion, many physicians recommend taking them with food (see How much food is necessary to buffer the stomach ...
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Why does overuse of antibiotics cause resistance?
The way I see it there are 2 cases:
1. The patient uses antibiotics and has an infection.
2. The patient does not have an infection and uses the antibiotics.
For case 1, this is a legitimate use. ...
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