Antibiotic Side Effects

Abstract

There is recent enhanced interest in the potential of medication to produce serious toxicity, and the television media have focused on the serious side effects and drug-drug interactions caused by antibiotics. In fact, a recent hospital study noted that drug-related toxicity was one of the most common causes of death for hospitalized patients. Antibiotic-induced adverse events contribute to host injury diagnostic confusion and excessive medical costs. In addition, however, a "spin-off'' of antibiotic-induced adverse events is the emergence and dissemination of drug-resistant organisms. This chapter will describe the adverse events and drug-drug interactions produced by those antibiotics that are most commonly prescribed to patients to prevent or treat respiratory tract infections. An effort will also be made to focus on those unique settings (the patient with renal insufficiency, the patient receiving immunosuppressive medication, the pregnant patient, the elderly patient, and the HIV-infected patient who is a candidate for primary or secondary prophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii) that require a knowledge of antibiotic-induced adverse events.

Prospective randomized controlled study on the effects of Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 and amoxicillin-clavulanate or the combination on the gut microbiota of healthy volunteers

“…Our study also confirmed the findings reported by multiple studies in the past which associated the use of antibiotics with higher incidence of diarrhea and/or loose bowel movements 21,22 . 6 of the 12 subjects in the AC group, who had formed bowel movements prior to AC ingestion, had more than 3 loose bowel movements during antibiotic use.…”

“…Millions of doses of antibiotics are administered in the US and worldwide each year 20 . Antibiotics are associated with many side effects, among which AAD is the most common 21,22 . Moreover, the incidence, morbidity and mortality associated with CDI have been steadily rising over the last decade and are expected to continue to rise given the emergence of hyper-virulent strains of C difficile and the growing use of antibiotics 3,7,18 .…”

In vitroandIn vivoantimicrobial activity of propolis on the microbiota from gastrointestinal tract of chickens

“…[3][4][5] . Propolis has been considered a good candidate for an adjuvant in the treatment or prevention of many infectious diseases among those natural products.…”

Phage Therapy: Eco-Physiological Pharmacology

“…Specifically, phage cytotoxic activity requires activation, and that activation is achieved solely in the course of infection of specific bacterial types, and that cytotoxicity also predominantly targets those bacteria being infected. Phage therapy as a consequence can display an inherently lower toxicity than can be achieved by many small-molecule antibacterial agents, including many antibiotics [162, 163]. Small-molecule agents, that is, often can more readily interact with non-target bacteria or body tissues in a physiologically active form than can phage particles.…”