What is Zithromax used for?
Zithromax (azithromycin) is a medicine that belongs to the group of macrolide antibiotics and is used for the treatment of wide array of infections caused by the presence of bacteria in the body. It can be used to treat ear infections, sexually transmitted diseases, respiratory infections, skin infections and a number of other conditions, including in children. If your child has pneumonia, strep throat or middle ear infection – Zithromax may be prescribed, although you will have to consult your health care provider about it anyway. Since this medicine has been specially designed to treat infectious cause by bacteria, you shouldn’t expect it to be able to treat your viral infection – such as cold of flu. Zithromax is not going to be efficient against this kind of infection and you will need to look for some other remedy that will be able to help you take things under control. If you ever experienced an allergic reaction to Zithromax or other similar drugs, make sure you tell your health care provider about it, as you will probably be unable to be taking this medicine. The following drugs are considered to be similar to azithromycin and can prevent you from safely taking this drug is you have a history of an allergic reaction to any of them: clarithromycin, telithromycin, troleandomycin, and erythromycin. Zithromax is however one of safest antibiotics – it is relatively safe for pregnant women and is unlikely to cause any birth defects in unborn babies. However, to benefit from the treatment you will need to make sure your bacteria are sensitive to this particular antibiotic. The biggest problem these days when it comes to using antibiotics is resistance of bacteria developed over many years of antibiotics being used as soon as some infection is detected. As a result of this kind of resistance a certain antibiotic your bacteria are «familiar» with is unlikely to eliminate the infection from the body. Additional tests may be required to establish whether your bacteria are going to respond to the treatment and taking Zithromax makes sense. You will be required to be examined by your health care provider before starting to take this medicine. Your doctor will be interested to know if you are currently using any other medications and whether there are any medical conditions that you have or used to have that can affect your treatment in some way. Zithromax may be combined with other medications – for example, some drugs to support your lives function and make sure you are benefitting from taking this macrolide antibiotic as much as possible. However, make sure you never combine Zithromax with any other medications yourself, as this can cause interactions that it’s always best to avoid. Make sure you mention to your doctor any information that may be important – as there are some aspects that can make it impossible for you to take Zithromax, or your dose will need to be adjusted.