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Prophylactic Antibiotic Usage in Children
Author(s) -
Akita Hironobu,
Sunakawa Keisuke,
Ichihashi Yasuo
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
pediatrics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.49
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-200X
pISSN - 1328-8067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-200x.1986.tb00759.x
Subject(s) - medicine , antibiotics , penicillin , meningitis , immunology , intensive care medicine , pediatrics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
As a result of recent striking progress in the development of antibiotics, some infectious diseases which had been considered to be intractable have come to be curable. However, there are still quite a few infectious diseases which occur comparatively rarely, but once they attack humans the condition becomes severe and treatment is very difficult. When it is possible to prevent these infections by prophylactic administration of antibiotics, such administration should be performed. The antibiotic employed for this purpose should have the strongest available antibacterial activity against the target bacteria and a clear prophylactic effect which has already been proven. In addition, it is also necessary that the antibiotic does not change the normal bacterial flora, which plays an important role in body defense mechanisms against infections. The drug also must not cause any serious side effects. We discuss the prophylactic administration methods which are actually being practiced in pediatrics. That is, the actual state of the latest methods of prophylactic antibiotic administration is described together with new findings regarding infections by group A hemolytic streptococci, meningitis ( Neisseria meningitidis and H. influenzae ), tuberculosis, endocarditis, infections in newborns (gonorrheal ophthalmia and infections by group B hemolytic streptococci), recurrent infections (otitis media and urinary tract infections) and infections in compromised hosts (especially infections by Pneumocystis carinii ).