ABSTRACT
There is recent enhanced interest in the potential of medication to produce serious
toxicity, and the television media have focused on the serious side effects and drug-drug
interactions caused by antibiotics. In fact, a recent hospital study noted that drug-related
toxicity was one of the most common causes of death for hospitalized patients. Antibiotic-induced
adverse events contribute to host injury diagnostic confusion and excessive medical
costs. In addition, however, a ``spin-off'' of antibiotic-induced adverse events is
the emergence and dissemination of drug-resistant organisms.
This chapter will describe the adverse events and drug-drug interactions produced
by those antibiotics that are most commonly prescribed to patients to prevent or treat
respiratory tract infections. An effort will also be made to focus on those unique
settings (the patient with renal insufficiency, the patient receiving immunosuppressive
medication, the pregnant patient, the elderly patient, and the HIV-infected patient
who is a candidate for primary or secondary prophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii) that require a knowledge of antibiotic-induced adverse events.
KEYWORD
Antibiotic resistance - drug-drug interactions - respiratory tract infection
