Treating COPD with the antibiotic azithromycin may be more e

[al]

Default Treating COPD with the antibiotic azithromycin better than steroids?



Treating COPD with the antibiotic azithromycin may be more effective than steroid treatment
10-8-14
Medical News Today

A new study may have found a better way of treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Dr Sandra Hodge from the Lung Research Laboratory at the Hanson Institute in Adelaide, South Australia says that treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with the antibiotic azithromycin may be more effective than the currently prescribed steroid treatment.

Hodge and a team from the Department of Thoracic Medicine at the Royal Adelaide Hospital administered the antibiotic treatment over three months and found it allows for better control of damage, death and repair in the cells that line the airways.

COPD is predicted to become the third most common cause of death in the world by 2020.

Hodge says that COPD patients have an increased risk of bacterial colonization of the airway and infective exacerbations.

"Treatment with glucocorticosteroids is often ?ineffective," she says. "Understanding the basis of ongoing inflammation is critical to the development of new treatments."

The study, published in Respirology this month, states that treatment with a low dose of azithromycin provides an alternative to address the issues of persistent airway epithelial injury and inadequate repair in COPD-patients.

The study confirmed the desired anti-inflammatory effect of azithromycin on epithelial cells derived from airway lavage and brushing samples of COPD-patient.

Repeated administration of azithromycin to COPD-patients over a three-month period suppressed the production of a specific T-cell toxin, granzyme B, in the airway epithelium.

[Dave AB]

I have been taking azithromycin daily for a few years. Haven't had any exacerbations since I started this med. PFT results have stayed stable.

Dave AB

[dave1955]

Dave AB,
How big a dose?

[Dave AB]

I take 250 mg each evening. I don't really know if the azithromycin is protecting me of maybe I'm just lucky. I don't intend to stop taking it to see if I catch pneumonia.

[chrocary / Jane]

Dave AB Are you taking anything else or just the anti?

[Dave AB]

I am very popular at the pharmacy. I take Symbicort Spiriva and Losartan. Also Atrovent. Plus other meds that shouldn't help or bother COPD.

[stoker55]

I used to ask for Erythromycin when I got sick before diagnosis of COPD it is a derivative and it works like a hot d**n!