Which Antibiotic to Treat Pneumonia (Streptococcus Pneumoniae, Haemophilus Influenzae)

Pneumonia is one of those diseases where antibiotics are prescribed practically automatically. There are dozens, if not more, kinds of antibiotics available for treating this particular diseas in clinical or home conditions. However, this is the case where the importance of consulting with a specialist before beginning a treatment regimen gets to the point of extreme. You see, there is a really vast quantity of bacteria that cause pneumonia, and the treatment depends heavely on the type of organism in the case in question, as well as on the severity of the patient's current state, the patient's age etc. Even a practicing physician who has seen plenty of pneumonia patients needs some time before they can determin what drug should be used in the individual situation.

First of all, the degree of the disease's severity must be determined. Mild and moderate cases of pneumonia can be easily treated with oral antibiotics in the comfort of your own home, whereas the severe forms almost always require intravenous antibiotics and a complete hospital regimen. Next, tests are run to determine the exact bacterium that is causing the illnesses. If there is no possibility to determin the organism for some reason, the doctor will care whether the pneumonia was community- or hospital-acquired. This information is incredibly useful in finding out which bacterium was most likely to set off the disease. The doctors tend to know which infections are active in the society at present, and in case of a hospital-acquired illness the diagnosis is determined by checking which forms of pneumonia the patients at a certain clinic had at the time of the patient's stay there.

The kind of the bacterium is very important, is well. By that we mean the typical/atypical qualities of the organism. Typical bacterial pneumonias are usually caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, or Moraxella catarrhalis, which respond very well to penicillin treatment and other standart drugs from the same group. On the other hand, atypical organisms like Chlamydia, Legionella, Mycoplasma and others require the use of macrolide, quinolone and other antibiotic preparations of the new generation.

The general state of the patient's health is also relevant to the choise of drug. For example, in patients with impaired immune system, HIV-positive patients and patients with AIDS special safe antibiotics are used, as here it is important to reduce all the damage the drug can do to the immune system. Patients with gastrointestinal diseases, liver and kidney conditions, wrong white blood cells balance and other conditions of this nature require special tests and careful dosage adjustment.

Popular antibiotics for treating pneumonia are Bactrim, Levaquin