How Effective and Safe is Azithromycin as an Antibacterial?

Azithromycin is an antibacterial which is effective against bacteria & thus fights them. This medicine is used to treat various infectious diseases caused by bacteria, such as sexually transmitted infections, respiratory infections, skin infections, and ear infections etc.

Azithromycin antibacterial should not be used to treat patients having history of jaundice or hepatic complications with previous use of this drug.

One should not take azithromycin if he is allergic to it or if:

• He is allergic to similar drugs like clarithromycin, telithromycin or erythromycin etc.
• He had a history of jaundice or other hepatic complications caused by taking this antibacterial.

To make certain that use of azithromycin is safe for you, you should tell medical practitioner if you ever had:

• Hepatic disease
• Renal disease
• Heart rhythm disorder
• Myasthenia gravis

Azithromycin can also do harm to fetus so you should tell medical practitioner if you plan to become pregnant or are pregnant etc.

It is yet to be unidentified that azithromycin also passes into breast milk and do harm to baby fed on mother milk so you should also tell your doctor if you are breastfeeding a baby.

Do not recommend this to a baby younger than 6 months of age.

Azithromycin belongs to a class of antibiotic, called a macrolide. It fights against bacteria & is used to treat infectious diseases.

Azithromycin is used in the effective treatment of infections caused by bacteria mostly occurring on skin, in ear, lungs and some sexually transmitted infections.

Azithromycin is used effectively to kill and prevent mycobacterium avium complex (a respiratory infection) in patients with advanced HIV. It can also be used in combination with other drugs.

Azithromycin is also effective against a wide variety of microorganisms and has great penetration potential in human tissue. Some strains of bacteria are also resistant to it (not killed by this drug).

Azithromycin is preferred over other antibiotics because it is better tolerated and has greater penetration potential than other antibiotics.

• It can be dosed once every 24 hours this improving adherence.
• It can also be used treat patients allergic to penicillin.
• It can be taken with or without food; however, it is better tolerated when taken with food.
• Do not ingest it at the same time as magnesium or aluminium-containing antacids.

Discontinue this drug immediately and go for urgent medical help if symptoms of an allergic reaction (difficulty breathing or rash formation) occur.

Take it in exactly the same way as directed and finish the course as advised by your doctor, even if you feel better before completing the course. Missing or forgetting doses or not completing treatment can diminish the effectiveness of the treatment and promote resistance development.

Although diarrhea is usual with use of azithromycin, consult your doctor in cases of severe diarrhea especially if it contains blood or is very watery. Sometimes the diarrhea can also occur 1 to 2 months after starting use of azithromycin.

Consult your doctor immediately if you feel any symptoms of liver disease like paleness of skin or whites of the eyes, pain in right hypochondrium, rashes, severe nausea, clay-colored stools and vomiting etc.

Patients allergic to other macrolides (such as clarithromycin. telithromycin or erythromycin) should not be prescribed azithromycin. Also avoid azithromycin if you used it before and it caused hepatic damage or dysfunction etc.

Ingest azithromycin Zmax extended-release liquid at least two hours after or one hour before a meal. Any medicine that is not used must be wasted and disposed especially if not used in 12 hours’ time.

Keep away from too much exposure to tanning beds or sunlight. It is wise to use a higher sunblock than SPF 30 especially when you are out in the sun and you must also wear clothes that protect your skin from direct sunlight because arithromycin can cause sunburns very easily due to photo-sensitivity.

The effectiveness and response of azithromycin is excellent. It takes two and a half to just over three hours to acquire peak concentrations in the blood after ingestion. You can also take a little higher dose than the usual dosage for get better mixture sooner. The medicine can be taken one time in every 24 hours

It can take many days before symptoms of infection start to vanish. Always finish the course as prescribed by the doctor.

In general it is safe to take azithromycin antibacterial. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, flatulence, dyspepsia, fatigue, headache are some usual side effects of azithromycin.

Azithromycin causes liver dysfunction and liver damage and sometimes fatal etc. It should be stopped using if symptoms of liver dysfunction appear on its use.

It also affects heart rhythm thus can also cause cardiac arrhythmias. While this risk increases in patients having a history of QT prolongation, or using in combination with other drugs notorious to cause prolongation in QT interval, with decreased levels of magnesium or potassium in the blood, or in patients using anti-arrhythmic drugs like sotalol, procainamide and amiodarone etc.

• Extreme diarrhea is a side effect potentially caused by almost all antibiotic drugs including azithromycin antibacterial.
• Azithromycin can also allergic skin reactions and photo-sensitivity. In such cases, immediately discontinue it go for urgent medical help.
• It can also interact with other drugs such as nelfinavir and warfarin etc.
• Azithromycin dosage should be decreased for patients also suffering from renal disease or myasthenia gravis etc.

Azithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat infections. It has the distinct advantage of dosing once every 24 hours; however, diarrhea is the common side effect.