Alphabetical list:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Q Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
News: November 9, 2009
Two Antibiotics Linked to Birth Defects
November 9, 2009Most antibiotics used during pregnancy are safe, but researchers have found a link between two commonly prescribed drugs and birth defects.
The study, part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, is the first analysis of antibiotic use in pregnancy. Researchers analyzed data from 13,155 mothers in 10 states whose infants had birth defects and compared them to mothers in the same region who had healthy babies.
It found that mothers of babies with birth defects were more likely to report taking two types of antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections during the first three months of pregnancy - sulfa drugs such as Bactrim and Septra, and nitrofurantoins, a urinary germicide that includes the brand names Furadantin, Macrobid, and Macrodantin.
Penicillin, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in early pregnancy, was found to be safe, but was linked to a slightly increased risk for limb defects. Also found to be safe were cephalosporins and quinolones.
Lead author of the study, Krista Crider, a geneticist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that this was the first study to find an association with the drugs and birth defects and additional studies are need to confirm the findings.
Sulfa drugs are the oldest antibiotics and some animal studies have found harm during pregnancy. The study found this group of drugs to be associated with six birth defects, more than any other class of antibiotic. Defects linked to sulfa drugs included rare brain and heart defects and shortened limbs. Anencephaly, a fatal brain and skull malformation linked to sulfa drugs, affects about 1 in 10,000 births in the United States per March of Dimes data.
Doctors have previously viewed nitrofurantoins as safe to treat urinary tract infections during pregnancy. The four defects most commonly linked with these medications included hypoplastic left heart syndrome, atrial septal defect, eye defects, and cleft lip and palate. Cleft palate occurs in about 20 births out of 10,000 and was twice as likely to occur with women who had taken the nitrofurantoins.
It is unclear whether the birth defects were caused by the drugs or by the infections being treated. Bacterial infections themselves can cause problems for the fetus if left untreated, including preterm birth, low birth weight and blindness, so pregnant women shouldn't avoid antibiotics entirely. Instead, women should discuss antibiotics choices with their doctors.
Additional Sources Include: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the March of Dimes
Archive issues: (50)
Archive list: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [14] 15 16 17
November 5, 2009 | To Quit Smoking, Use Patch Plus LozengeOut of five different smoking cessation methods, the nicotine patch plus lozenges proved to be the most effective, according to research published in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. The study is the first to compare the different products against each other. Megan E. Piper, PhD and colleagues at the ...
November 4, 2009 | Soft Drinks Take a Toll on Your HealthThe only positive thing one can say about soft drinks is that they taste good, but the price people pay in terms of their health for that good taste can be high. When we look at the benefits and risks associated with soft drink consumption, the risk side of the equation is clearly the winner-and ...
November 3, 2009 | Yoga Benefits Cancer PatientsSome of the major cancer centers across the country, including MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, now offer their patients yoga as a complementary therapy in an effort to provide a more integrative approach to care. In addition, some physician-directed programs, such as Dr. Dean Ornish's Prostate Cancer ...
Related articles:
Chronic bacterial prostatitis - prognosis
Over time, the relapse rate is high, exceeding 50%. A 2007 study showed that repeated courses of combination antibiotics may eradicate infection in 83.9% of patients with clinical remission extending throughout a follow-up period of 30 months for 94% of these patients.Section: Prostatitis
Treatment - medication (bladder instillations)
DMSO, a wood pulp extract, is the only approved bladder instillation for IC/PBS yet it is much less frequently used in urology clinics. Research studies presented at recent conferences of the American Urological Association by C. Subah Packer have demonstrated that the FDA approved dosage of a 50% solution of DMSO had the potential of creating irreversible muscle contraction. However, a lesser solution of 25% was found to be reversible. Long term use is questionable, at best, particularly given the fact that the method of action of DMSO is not fully ...Section: Interstitial cystitis
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome - physical and psychological therapy
For chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (Cat III), also known as CP/CPPS, which makes up the majority of men diagnosed with "prostatitis", a treatment called the "Wise-Anderson Protocol" (aka the "Stanford Protocol"), has recently been published. This is a combination of:Section: Prostatitis