Azithromycin News and Research

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Azithromycin, also known as Zithromax, belongs to the class of medicines known as antibacterials orantibiotics. These medicines kill bacteria (small organisms that can cause infection in humans) or stopbacteria from growing. Patients with weakened immune systems, includingpeople with HIV, tend to have more frequent andmore serious bacterial infections. Azithromycinwas approved by the FDA on June 14, 1996, formany uses, including the prevention and treatmentof Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) inpersons with advanced HIV infection. It is alsobeing investigated to see how well it works inpreventing other kinds of bacterial infections inpeople with HIV.

ATS releases new guidance to help clinicians manage COVID-19 patients

An American Thoracic Society-led international task force has released a guidance document to help clinicians manage COVID-19 patients in the face of a worldwide pandemic and minimal empirical evidence to guide treatment.

6 Apr 2020

Who should be taking antimalarial drugs as treatment against COVID-19?

Researchers provide a guideline regarding who should be actually taking antimalarial drugs as prophylaxis to prevent getting COVID-19. They say health professionals who are being exposed to COVID-19 positive patients and those who test positive but are asymptomatic should be taking drugs such as Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine. They explain that these populations remain most in need, and because of limited supply, these individuals need to be prioritized.

2 Apr 2020

Drugs considered for COVID-19 can increase risk for dangerous arrhythmias

As some consider treating coronavirus patients with a combination of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, cardiologists are advising caution because both medications can increase the risk for dangerous abnormal heart rhythms.

2 Apr 2020

Critical guidance to identify COVID-19 patients at risk of drug-induced sudden cardiac death

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, continues to spread, leading to more than 20,000 deaths worldwide in less than four months. Efforts are progressing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, but it's still likely 12 to 18 months away.

25 Mar 2020

Study finds no benefit in using broad-spectrum antibiotics as initial pneumonia treatment

Doctors who use drugs that target antibiotic-resistant bacteria as a first-line defense against pneumonia should probably reconsider this approach, according to a new study of more than 88,000 veterans hospitalized with the disease.

26 Feb 2020

Macrolide, penicillin antibiotics in pregnancy could affect children’s health

A new study published in the journal BMJ in February 2020 reports that macrolide or penicillin antibiotic consumption in pregnancy could be linked to several adverse health outcomes in children. These include major malformations, cerebral palsy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.

20 Feb 2020

Study pinpoints a gene that allows chlamydia to pick up DNA from host environment

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chlamydia trachomatis is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the U.S., totaling 1.7 million cases in 2017. Rates are highest among teenagers and young adults. Left untreated, chlamydia can cause blindness and sterility.

10 Oct 2019

New clinical practice guideline published for adults with community acquired pneumonia

The American Thoracic Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have published an official clinical guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of adults with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the ATS's Oct. 1 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

1 Oct 2019

African bacterium resists almost all drugs

It looks like it’s time to pay the piper. The first extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain of Salmonella typhimurium, called ST313 sublineage II.1, has cropped up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This fails to respond to any of the antibiotics that are commonly used in the DRC, except for ciprofloxacin. And to make things worse, one sample has been isolated that shows incomplete response even to this last drug.

22 Sep 2019

Salmonella responsible for bloodstream infections in sub-Saharan Africa exhibits extensive drug resistance

The first extensively drug-resistant strains of Salmonella Typhimurium, a pathogen which is responsible for millions of bloodstream infections per year in sub-Saharan Africa, have been identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

19 Sep 2019

Commonly prescribed antibiotics linked to two types of heart problems

Scientists have shown for the first time a link between two types of heart problems and one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antibiotics.

11 Sep 2019

Thames typical of superbug-breeding rivers, says new study

The River Thames is rapidly becoming a breeding pool for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a new study, which underlines the urgent need to cut down the amount of antibiotics currently being discharge into the river by at least 80% to arrest this trend.

5 Sep 2019

Blocking key mineral uptake could prevent gonorrhea infection

A team of researchers may have found a way to block gonorrhea infection by blocking bacterial pathogen from using zinc, an essential mineral found in many food sources.

6 Aug 2019

New measure identifies patterns of pediatric antibiotic use around the world

A new measure has identified for the first time whether the most suitable antibiotics are being used to treat newborns and children in hospital on a national basis.

16 Jun 2019

IVI and MCRI to coordinate global push for developing vaccine against Strep A bacteria

The International Vaccine Institute and Australia's Murdoch Children's Research Institute will coordinate a global push to free the world of Group A Streptococcus, the contagious bacteria that kills half a million people every year and is developing resistance to antibiotics.

31 May 2019

UIC to lead $14.6 million, multi-center COPD research project

The University of Illinois at Chicago will lead a $14.6 million, multi-center research project to determine which of two drugs -- azithromycin, an antibiotic, or roflumilast, an anti-inflammatory medication -- is the most effective at treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is also known as COPD.

10 May 2019

Combination of antibiotics prevents cancer cells from motoring

Scientists in Salford, UK have found a way to make cancer stem cells reproduce defectively "like cars without engines".

9 May 2019

Gonorrhea cases on the rise in EU/EEA countries

Following a decline in notification rates in 2016, the number of gonorrhea cases has gone up by 17% across the reporting EU/EEA countries with more than 89 000 confirmed diagnoses in 2017 - more than 240 cases a day.

25 Apr 2019

Outpatient healthcare providers inappropriately prescribe antibiotics to 40% of patients

Outpatient healthcare providers inappropriately prescribed antibiotics to 40 percent of patients in a major Veterans Affairs healthcare system, a higher figure than in previous studies examining outpatient antibiotic use, according to a new study appearing in the American Journal of Infection Control, the journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology published by Elsevier.

17 Apr 2019

Antibiotic levels in water and potential risk of drug-resistant bugs

A JRC report brings together data on antibiotic levels in water, showing that small concentrations have found their way into a range of Europe's waterbodies.

27 Mar 2019