Side Effects of Antibiotics?

Did you know that the side effects of antibiotics are responsible for over 140,000 trips the ER every year?

The Centers for Disease Control have released their findings for a new study on antibiotic reactions in the U.S. According to a survey they conducted, a sample of 63 hospitals recorded more than 6,600 emergency visits that were the direct result of bad reactions to antibiotics.

Penicillin and amoxicillin were responsible for half of the visits to the emergency room. The other half of the visits were the result of reactions to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones—the class that includes Cipro.

Most of the reactions to these drugs were allergic reactions, which ranged from rashes to anaphylaxis. However, the bottom line of this study is that overuse of antibiotics has become a serious public health problem.

A more alarming statistic they have found is half of the 100 million antibiotic prescriptions written for respiratory tract infections in the U.S. are unnecessary.

For more information about this study, visit cdc.gov.

Antibiotics have been a hot topic lately. We’ve blogged about it in the past and we promise to keep you updated as we learn more.

If any of you have had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic, please leave us a comment and let us know what happened.