http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/antibiotic_whooping991216.html
A Dangerous Remedy
Infant Antibiotic (erythromycin) Can Cause Severe Stomach Disorder
A T L A N T A, Dec. 16 — An antibiotic commonly used to treat whooping cough in newborn infants, may cause a stomach blockage that must be repaired surgically, federal health officials said today.
About 200 babies at a Knoxville,
Tenn. hospital were given oral erythromycin because of a whooping cough outbreak earlier
this year, and seven later developed pyloric stenosis, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) said.
Normally, just one baby in 200 would develop the disorder, in
which a stomach muscle enlarges and prevents food from passing into the small intestine,
researchers said.
“The result is forceful or projectile vomiting,” said
Margaret Honein of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health.
Investigators concluded there was “an association between
taking the antibiotic erythromycin and being at an increased risk of pyloric stenosis,”
said Honein.
The seven infants, all less than three weeks of age, underwent
surgery and have recovered.
Successful Sugeries
“The surgery for pyloric stenosis is considered very safe and effective and all of
the seven infants in this investigation recovered completely and are doing well,”
Honein said.
Because whooping cough can be fatal in very young infants, the
CDC urged doctors to carefully evaluate the risks and benefits of erythromycin in babies
who are less than a month old.
“We suggest that physicians talk to parents about the
possible risk of pyloric stenosis that could occur and advise the parents to watch for
signs that the infant may be developing pyloric stenosis,” Honein said.
Erythromycin is the recommended treatment for newborns with
whooping cough and is also used to prevent the disease when infants may have been exposed
to someone who has symptoms of the highly contagious illness.
CDC Backs Recommendation
“CDC does still recommend that erythromycin be used following exposure to a known
case of pertussis,” Honein said.
“In newborns, pertussis, or whooping cough, is a very
serious disease and can cause severe complications. About 72 percent of kids less than six
months old who get whooping cough are hospitalized for it,” she said.