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Augmentin is a brand name for an antibiotic , holler Colorado - amoxiclav , that is used to treat a wide chain of conditions , from bronchitis to Lyme disease . It is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics for child , frequently dole out for spike infections .
Benefits
antibiotic forge by assault the cell bulwark of bacteria that are harm the body , or they keep the bacterium from replicate . [ How Do Antibiotics Work ? ]
The drug is a combination of two dynamic constituent : Trimox and clavulanic acid . Together , the drugs crusade bacterium that would ordinarily be resistant to amoxicillin alone .
The antibiotic can also be used on animals . ruminant , swine , sawhorse , dogs , cats and poultry are often order Augmentin for various ailment .
The extended-release tablet form of Augmentin is white and oval.
Uses
Augmentin is typically take orally , in pill build for adults , and in a liquidness ( often flavored ) reprieve for piddling tyke . Doctors dictate the drug so often because it works against many case of disease - have bacteria .
" When I journey I always have some Augmentin in my travel base , " because it works against so many common infections , said Dr. Alasdair Geddes , an emeritus professor of infectious disease at the University of Birmingham in England , who ran some of the first clinical trials of Augmentin .
Augmentin is one of the workhorse of the pediatrician ’s office , prescribe for pinna infections that are resistant to amoxicillin alone , sore throats and certain eye infections . The drug is also a muscular agent against bronchitis and tonsillitis get by bacteria ( though many cases of sore throat are viral in origin ) .
In add-on , the drug can fight pneumonia , urinary tract infections , gonorrhea and skin infections . The drug has also been seen as a serious possible prospect for treatment of Lyme disease , chlamydia , sinusitis , gastritis and peptic ulcers , according to a 2011 study in the International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences .
Though Augmentin has n’t been conclusively show to be dependable during pregnancy , some studies evoke it is unlikely to do harm to significant women or their fetuses , according to a 2004 study in theBritish Journal of Clinical Pharmacology . TheMayo Clinicalso lists amoxicillin as a safe antibiotic drug for pregnancy . Women who are significant should determine with their doc before taking the drug , though . The Food and Drug Administration classifies Augmentin as a course of study group B drug , meaning there is no grounds for harm .
Side effects
The most uncouth side effects for Augmentin are nausea , upset stomach , flatulence and diarrhea . mostly , this is because clavulanic acid can irritate the gut , Geddes order . In addition , like other antibiotics , Augmentin wipes out a tolerant course of study of bacterium , so it may also kill " good " bacteria that line the catgut and help digest foods . Augmentin can also leave people more prostrate to barm infection — again , because it wipe out adept bacterial populations that commonly inhibit the growth of yeast .
hoi polloi who are sensitised to penicillin - like drugs are often allergic to Augmentin as well , because it contains amoxicillin . To examine for thisdrug allergy , doctors can do a hide - son of a bitch test called PrePen . In some instances , an allergic reaction to Augmentin can lead to anaphylaxis , a deadly allergic reply that can cause the narrowing of the air passage , the swelling of the lips and tongue , and a deathly drop in blood atmospheric pressure .
" It is in the penicillin family , so allergy is relatively common , " said Dr. Warren Hammert , a surgeon at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York .
Rarely , the drug can cause problems with how the liver functions , which will chair to yellow of the skin called jaundice .
" In rare cases , it can get a shape where thecolon is affectedand consequence in serious long - full term GI [ gastrointestinal ] problems , " Hammert order Live Science .
And a few isolated cases of nestling oppose negatively to the clavulanic acid in Augmentin have also been reported . For illustration , 10 tyke who test electronegative for penicillin allergic reaction , broke out into hives after taking Augmentin , fit in to a 2008 bailiwick in the journalAllergologia and Immunopathologia .
History
world make headway their first powerful weapon in the war against bacterium in the twenties . Scottish life scientist Alexander Fleming was culture a bacteria , when he noticed that a mould grow in one of his petri dishes had killed off the palisade bacterium , accord to the Nobel Prize website . After much work , he discovered that the active broker was what is now known as penicillin ( bring up after the fungus , genus Penicillium , which raise it . )
Though penicillin work wonders , it had some side personal effects and was not effective against all that many bacterium . So , in the 1950s , scientists at Beecham Research Laboratories , which was create by the same company that grow Lucozade cushy drinks and Brylcreem whisker gel , began acquire newantibiotics . Their scheme was simple and canny : they used the substance chemical substance structure of penicillin , but sum up different side chain to it , Geddes say .
One of their early successful drug was amoxicillin , a near relative to penicillin . Both Augmentin and other penicillins have a key molecular structure that help the putting to death bacteria : a chemical ring forebode a genus Beta - lactam .
genus Beta - lactam rings bind to enzyme in bacterial cell membranes . These enzyme are creditworthy for cross - linking peptidoglycans , the edifice blocks used to constitute the bacterial cell wall . When drugs like amoxicillin disable these membrane enzymes , they prevent the bacteria from make up the mobile phone wall , even as the bacteria continue to break down their sure-enough cubicle wall . The bacterium die as a result .
Amoxicillin was seen as a find because it was draw well than earlier antibiotics , had few of the side event of antibiotics such as methicillin , and seemed to work against a broad class of bacterium .
However , it had one flaw : at least some resistive populations of bacteria had evolve an ability to fight amoxicillin and other antibiotic by progress to an enzyme called beta - lactamase , which fundamentally snipped the beta lactam tintinnabulation open and handicapped it .
But in 1972 , Beecham Research Laboratories discovered that a certain bacteria calledStreptomyces clavuligerusproduced a chemical lookalike to penicillin , called clavulanic acid , as a byproduct of its ferment , according to an article published in 2007 in theInternational Journal of Microbial Agents . Like other antibiotic , it had a beta - lactam ring , but on its own , was n’t much good at kill bacteria .
However , when fuse with amoxicillin , it make a superb antibiotic . Clavulanic acid was the ultimate lure : when bacterium send off out its antibiotic - snipping enzyme , genus Beta - lactamase , it would bind to clavulanic acid or else . Once bound , clavulanic acid changed its shape and for good deactivated genus Beta - lactamase . Clavulanic acid worked highly well against several deadly bacteria , includingEscherichia coli , Klebisella aerogens , Pseudomonas aeruginosaandStaphylococcus aureus , according to a 1977 article in the journal of theAmerican Society for Microbiology .
" It was really the first broad - spectrum oral antibiotic drug which was remarkably free from side effects , " Geddes tell . " At one stage , Augmentin was the turgid sell oral antibacterial drug in the world . "
extra reportage by Alina Bradford , Live Science contributor .
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