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04/06/15
10:44
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Originally posted by firehawk08
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I will have to correct you.
Whooping cough is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. More specifically, it is caused by a toxin that this bacterium produces.
There is good evidence that administering antibiotics eliminates the bacteria and reduces the risk of transmission of whooping cough. There is less evidence that giving antibiotics affects the course of the disease in the same patient.
However, I would challenge most people to refuse antibiotics in a case of whooping cough when they or their children are coughing so hard that they are having trouble breathing.
It's logical that if the toxin is causing the whooping cough and the toxin is being produced by the bacteria, most people would want to eradicate the bacteria.
Perhaps logic does not apply to all people?
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I found this "Treatment with erythromycin does not alter the course of disease, but reduces the infectious period to 5 to 10 days." and this
"Although B pertussis is susceptible in vitro to several antibiotics, such as tetracycline, erythromycin, and chloramphenicol, the efficacy of these drugs in patients during the paroxysmal phase is not convincing. "
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7813/
Reducing the infections period does not equal killing the organism.
Basically antibiotics are administered because they don't know what else to do. In my opinion.