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Monday, December 08, 2003The study shows 'it would be rare indeed' for a child with a sore threat to benefit from antibiotic treatment, says Dr. Sjoerd Zwart, a general practitioner at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care of University Medical Center Utrecht. Zwart estimates that only one child in 20 with symptoms severe enough to warrant a visit to a physician would be helped by antibiotic therapy. His estimate is based on a trial in which 156 children who came to family physicians with sore throats were divided into three groups. One group got penicillin for seven days, a second got penicillin for three days followed by a placebo for four days, and the third got a placebo only. Penicillin is given to fight sore throats caused by Streptococcus bacteria rather than a virus. But 'penicillin treatment was not more beneficial in resolving symptoms of sore throat, neither in the total group nor in the 96 children with group A Streptococci,' says the journal report. The problem is, we don't give antibiotics to strep throat patients just to make them feel better. We give them to avoid rheumatic fever and all of its sequelae. posted by Sydney on 12/08/2003 08:28:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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