BMJ  2006;333 (16 December), doi:10.1136/sbmj.39058.582431.F7

This week in the BMJ

Antibiotic prevents complications of measles

Prophylactic co-trimoxazole given to children with measles reduces the incidence of pneumonia (odds ratio 0.08, 95% confidence interval 0 to 0.56) and conjunctivitis, and positively affects weight gain in the month after infection (P=0.04), say Garly and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.38989.684178.AE). They randomised 84 patients in Guinea-Bissau with measles to either receive the antibiotic or a placebo for seven days after diagnosis. They saw a non-significant trend towards less diarrhoea, severe fever, oral thrush, and stomatitis in the group treated with antibiotic, but no difference in rates of otitis media between groups.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Prophylactic antibiotics to prevent pneumonia and other complications after measles: community based randomised double blind placebo controlled trial in Guinea-Bissau

May-Lill Garly, Carlitos Balé, Cesário Lourenco Martins, Hilton C Whittle, Jens Nielsen, Ida M Lisse, and Peter Aaby
BMJ 2006 333: 1245. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]