Semin Respir Crit Care Med 2000; 21(1): 0061-0070
DOI: 10.1055/s-2000-9928
Copyright © 2000 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA. Tel.: +1(212) 584-4662

Antibiotic Side Effects

Richard A. Gleckman1 , John S. Czachor2
  • 1St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Paterson, New Jersey
  • 2Wright State University School of Medicine, Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, Ohio
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
31 December 2000 (online)

 

ABSTRACT

There is recent enhanced interest in the potential of medication to produce serious toxicity, and the television media have focused on the serious side effects and drug-drug interactions caused by antibiotics. In fact, a recent hospital study noted that drug-related toxicity was one of the most common causes of death for hospitalized patients. Antibiotic-induced adverse events contribute to host injury diagnostic confusion and excessive medical costs. In addition, however, a ``spin-off'' of antibiotic-induced adverse events is the emergence and dissemination of drug-resistant organisms.

This chapter will describe the adverse events and drug-drug interactions produced by those antibiotics that are most commonly prescribed to patients to prevent or treat respiratory tract infections. An effort will also be made to focus on those unique settings (the patient with renal insufficiency, the patient receiving immunosuppressive medication, the pregnant patient, the elderly patient, and the HIV-infected patient who is a candidate for primary or secondary prophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii) that require a knowledge of antibiotic-induced adverse events.

KEYWORD

Antibiotic resistance - drug-drug interactions - respiratory tract infection

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