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Issues Regarding Strep Throat Treatments

Prescribing the most appropriate strep throat treatment is a very difficult task for doctors. Although laboratory tests reveal the presence of group A streptococcus bacteria in most throat infections, these bacteria aren’t always the only ones responsible for causing strep throat. Apart from group A streptococcus bacteria, there are many other germs and viruses that contribute to throat infections, and an efficient strep throat treatment must be able to fight them all. All strep throat treatments consist of antibiotics and occasionally anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics.

The antibiotics that are commonly used in strep throat treatments are penicillin and amoxicillin. Although these antibiotics were successfully used to fight bacteria in the past, today they seem to be less effective and need to be prescribed in higher doses. This is due to improper medication that causes the bacteria to develop high resistance to this sort of antibiotics. An inappropriate strep throat treatment can actually strengthen the bacteria, therefore causing more harm than good.

An efficient strep throat treatment should be administered in appropriate doses and shouldn’t be prematurely interrupted. For instance, even if the symptoms of strep throat may disappear in the first few days of medication, the duration of a strep throat treatment with common antibiotics should be around 10 days. If the treatment is interrupted sooner, the infection will quickly reoccur and the bacteria will be more difficult to overcome.

Although antibiotics like penicillin or amoxicillin are still a part of strep throat treatments these days, other types of antibiotics may soon completely replace them. New antibiotics, known as cephalosporins, have proved to be a lot more powerful in fighting bacterial infections. Furthermore, strep throat treatments with cephalosporins can fully overcome infections in less time than penicillin and amoxicillin. When cephalosporins are used to cure strep throat, they are able to overcome the bacteria in only 4-5 days of treatment.

Strep throat treatments, just like any other treatments with antibiotics, have a lot of side-effects on the body when they are administered for long periods of time. By replacing penicillin and amoxicillin with cephalosporins, the duration of strep throat treatments is considerably reduced and therefore the body is less exposed to side-effects. Also, when cephalosporins are used in strep throat treatments, the infection is less likely to recidivate. Statistics indicate that around 25 percent of children that receive strep throat treatment with penicillin return to the doctor’s office. Also, around 15 percent of children that are given strep throat treatment with amoxicillin don’t get well at the end of the treatment. These statistics clearly indicate that the strep throat treatments prescribed in the past are now obsolete.

New generation cephalosporins are cefpodoxime and cefdinir. These antibiotics have proved to be superior to others and they are also a lot safer. Strep throat treatments based on cephalosporins seem to be the best means of dealing with bacterial infections in present.