Comments on: Treating H1N1 Swine Flu with Antibiotics?

By: Lisa Kolb

Lisa Kolb — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:28:13 +0000

H1N1 leads to bronchitus and then pneumonia. If you administer anti-biotics pneumonia can be avoided. The question remains, what antibiotic works best? If you have experience with this, please post what antibiotic you’ve had the most success with.

C – please consult your doctor for medical advice.

By: Vivian

Vivian — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:02:04 +0000

Since the optimal window of benefit for tamiflu is within 48 hours of onset of symptoms, would antiviral still be beneficial if patient’s already developing/showing symptoms of secondary bacterial lower respiratory tract infection?
Or is antiviral therapy still indicated concurrently with antibacterial therapy to improve the final outcome? Is there any guideline or evidence that support this practice?
I do very much agree that treatment decisions should be made on indivudual basis and that there’s just a very fine line between between adequate/necessary treatment and over-prescribing

C – The best information on guidelines can be found at cdc.gov, or flu.gov, but on an individual case basis, talking with your doctor asap is recommended.

By: Greg P

Greg P — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:54:13 +0000

I see co-treatment with antibiotics in hospitalized patients. One issue, though, especially for outpatients, would be which antibiotic to use.
I think one should make some effort to get an appropriate culture, and the death toll from flu suggests that these patients need to be watched closely.

By: albinoblackbear

albinoblackbear — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:31:54 +0000

It was my understanding (from microbiology classes long past) that a secondary bacterial lung infection was a common co-morbidity associated with viral lung infections.
It would seem reasonable to me to treat, as you said, with Tamiflu and ABX for the more severe H1N1 patients…however I wonder if the CDC’s report will cause a major upswing in ABX treatment for viral respiratory illnesses. It would be interesting to find out if there were any major differences in the clinical presentations of the 22 that had the bacterial co-infection.