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Okay, Use Azithromycin 500 mg OD for 3 Days
Home > Table of Contents > Cost Effectiveness / Yield / Medical Economics
OP Kapoor
Ex. Hon. Physician, Jaslok Hospital and Bombay Hospital, Mumbai, Ex. Hon. Prof. of Medicine, Grant Medical College and JJ Hospital, Mumbai 400 008.
All over the world, the maximum antibiotics used by GPs are for patients having sore throat. Really speaking, when sore throat is due to tonsillitis, where the patient complains of pain at the angles of mandible with fever, and the tonsils appear abnormal, antibiotics are indicated. The rest of the sore throats are of viral aetiology and do not call for use of any antibiotics. But then some GPs all over the world feel that we do not want to miss a few cases of pharyngitis due to group A, Beta haemolyticus or streptococcal infection.
OKAY, let us compromise.
You can start using Azithromycin 500 mg once a day for 3 days. Because of its long half-life, the action of this antibiotic lasts for another day or two. But for heaven’s sake CUT DOWN prescriptions of antibiotics for sore throats because iatrogenic illnesses are increasing in private practice and the bacteria are becoming resistant because of overuse of antibiotics.
TAMOXIFEN MAY CAUSE STEATOHEPATITIS IN OVERWEIGHT WOMEN
Tamoxifen, used to prevent recurrence of breast cancer, is associated with a doubled risk of developing non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in overweight women. However, in their prospective, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial of 5408 women, Bruno and colleagues found no clinical, biochemical, ultrasonographic, or histological signs suggestive of progression to cirrhosis in the affected women after a median follow-up of 8.7 years. The authors also found that unexplained multiple elevations of alanine aminotransferase 1.5 times or more the upper normal limit were associated with steatohepatitis, making histological examination unnecessary for diagnosis.
BMJ, 2005; 330 : 932.
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