Apr 15, 2006
Antibiotics for Asthma
Researchers at Imperial College London have demonstrated that an antibiotic is effective at treating acute asthma attacks, potentially providing a new way to help asthma sufferers.
The team found that the antibiotic, telithromycin, can hasten the recovery time of patients who have had asthma attacks by three days, as well as reducing their symptoms and improving lung function. Treatment for some serious asthma attacks can involve the use of steroids, which help control inflammation of the lungs and bronchodilators to open airways. However, telithromycin, an antibiotic was tested as part of the TELICAST (TELIthromycin, Chlamydophila and ASThma) study on 278 patients at 70 centres around the world, including St Mary’s Hospital, London to see whether asthma therapy could be added to the drug’s repertoire.
The patients were enrolled in the study within 24 hours of an acute asthma attack requiring acute medical care. They were then randomised double blind to either ten days oral treatment with a single 800mg dose of telithromycin daily, or placebo in addition to usual treatment. Symptoms and lung function for the patients in the telithromycin group improved significantly compared to those in the placebo group, with improvements being around twice as great at the end of the treatment period. Recovery time was also cut from an average of eight days for the placebo group, to five days for those in the telithromycin group.
Sebastian Johnston from Imperial College London, who led the research, said: “Traditionally antibiotics have not proven effective in treating asthma attacks, but this development could open up a whole new area of research in the treatment of asthma.”
Details of the research can be found in the NEJM and you can learn about the Buteyko method for asthma treatment here.
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Linda said,
October 1, 2007 at 7:08 am
I have had psoriatic arthritis for over 20 years. I have tried all of the traditional treatments, NSAIDS, DMARDS and biologics; all worked for a few years then lost effectiveness. I have been on antibiotics for 10 months now, and I’m starting to see some improvements. It certainly has much fewer side effects than long term use of prednisone and biologics. There is a wonderful website that has many testimonials from patients who have been in remission, they include all kinds of autoimmune diseases, scleroderma, rheumatiod arthritis, lupus, FMS, etc. The web address is: roadback.org. The American College of Rheumatology recognizes antibiotic protocol as a DMARD, but says that it should be used as a last resort. In my opinion from what I have learned, antibiotics are the most effective when used early on in the disease, not as a last resort. There is also a wonderful book, “the New Arthritis Breakthrough” , by Henry Scammell, a must read for anyone considering antibiotic therapy. Thanks for this blog, we’re always looking for ways to inform patients of all the treatment options available, and often antibiotic therapy is not given as an alternative to traditional treatment methods.
Linda