Doctors On Call

Bacterial infections in our past

There is not a single thing in nature that has caused so many deaths in humans as bacteria. These simple organisms have killed more people than all the wars, all the famines, all other illnesses put together and multiplied by a certain factor. Think of any major pandemic in the human history and it is most likely that you will find that a certain strain of bacteria is responsible for all of them, or at least the large majority of them. Not all bacteria are dangerous. In fact, most bacteria in our body help our bodies function properly. However, there are strains of bacteria that can cause severe infections if they run rampant and until the late 19^th century we were pretty much helpless against these infections. Only with the development of penicillin and other antibiotics have we become capable of treating these infections and battling bacterial infections.

What type of an antibiotic is Biaxin?

Biaxin is the brand name of clarithromycin, an antibiotic developed in Japan in the 1970s. It was developed by trying to come up with an antibiotic that is going to be devoid of side effects that were common with another type of antibiotics called the erythromycin antibiotics. They have managed to do this and Biaxin is therefore known to cause much less side effects than erythromycin and some other, older types of antibiotics. It still has roughly the same antibacterial spectrum, meaning that it is efficient against the same strains of bacteria as erythromycin, although it is effective against some other strains as well. The way in which Biaxin works is by preventing the bacteria from synthesizing protein, which is needed for the growth of the bacteria. Biaxin is used in treating such bacterial infections such as pharyngitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, acute episodes of chronic bronchitis, skin infections, pneumonia, Legionnaire’s disease, lyme disease as well as conditions that are caused by Helicobacter pylori. There are other bacterial strains that are susceptible to this medication and the infections caused by those strains are also treated with Biaxin.

Undergoing a Biaxin treatment

There are some conditions that might prevent you from using Biaxin or that make it necessary to monitor the progress more closely if they are present. These conditions include kidney or liver diseases, myasthenia gravis, porphyria, history of Long QT syndrome, as well as HIV, but mainly because Biaxin is known to interact with most HIV medications. Of course, if you are allergic to Biaxin or to other similar drugs, you will not be able to use it. Two very important things to keep in mind when taking Biaxin (or in fact any other type of antibiotics) is that you need to take it regularly and for the whole duration of your regimen. If you do otherwise, you are risking making your infections even worse as you give the infections breathing time during which they can become even more severe than originally.