Sore throat antibiotics often fail

Antibiotics such as penicillin or amoxicillin achieve classic for a quarter of the patients hardly the desired effect against angina.

They were for a long time as a real miracle weapon against infections of all kinds, but now the traditional antibiotics like penicillin and amoxicillin seem to leave the forces, you can achieve for many patients no longer have the desired effect.

Among the findings of a study by the University of Rochester has come. The local researchers analyzed data from nearly 11 500 children who suffered from a common throat infection. About 25 percent of patients who had received penicillin, amoxicillin, and 18 percent of recipients required within a few weeks, another treatment for their streptococcal infection.

Newer agents are expensive
The researchers therefore called for an international conference in Washington that the doctors should use more often newer antibiotics such as cephalosporins, are the much more expensive than the older agents. The British expert Robert George, director of the Respiratory and Systemic Infection Laboratory, said in the context that WHO continue to recommend the use of penicillin for strep throat.


The Rochester scientists had analyzed 47 studies on the effectiveness of various drugs for the treatment of sore throats in children. It was found that 14 percent of those affected had to be treated again when they got older cephalosporins. With newer drugs like cefpodoxime and cefdinir, patients taking only four or five days, only seven percent of the children had to go to the doctor again. The current study results confirm previous research results of the team who went out also by diminishing the effect of penicillin and amoxicillin.

The anginal therapy needs to change
The scientists led by Michael Pichichero assume that bacteria, which may also be present in the throat, can impede the effectiveness of antibiotics. Turn off the drugs before they become effective. According to Michael Pichichero, most doctors were shocked by the high failure rate of the older drugs. "The model of treatment for sore throats has been changing slowly. The support of the use of cephalosporins as a first choice for the treatment should be seriously considered. "