Co-trimoxazole Health Dictionary

has been used in combination with TRIMETHOPRIM (as co-trimoxazole) to treat infections of the URINARY TRACT. Increasing bacterial resistance to sulphonamides and the incidence of side-effects means that caution is needed in prescribing co-trimoxazole.... sulfamethoxazole

When a new drug is introduced, it has usually been studied only in relatively few patients – typically 1,500. If n patients have been studied, and no serious effects observed, there is still a chance of a serious adverse e?ect occurring in the general population as frequently as 3/n (1:500).

Adverse effects can be divided into types. First, those which are closely related to the concentration of the drug and accord with what is known of its PHARMACOLOGY. These so-called type A (augmented pharmacological) effects are distinguished from type B (bizarre) effects which are unpredictable, usually rare, and often severe. ANAPHYLAXIS is the most obvious of these; other examples include bone-marrow suppression with CO-TRIMOXAZOLE; hepatic failure (see HEPATITIS) with SODIUM VALPROATE; and PULMONARY FIBROSIS with AMIODARONE. A more comprehensive classi?cation includes reactions type C (chronic effects), D (delayed effects – such as teratogenesis or carcinogenesis) and E (end-of-dose effects – withdrawal effects). Examples of adverse reactions include nausea, skin eruptions, jaundice, sleepiness and headaches.

While most reported adverse reactions are minor and require no treatment, patients should remind their doctors of any drug allergy or adverse e?ect they have suffered in the past. Medical warning bracelets are easily obtained. Doctors should report adverse effects to the authorities – in the case of Britain, to the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), using the yellow-card reporting machinery.... adverse reactions to drugs

Also known as undulant fever, or Malta fever.

Causes In Malta and the Mediterranean littoral, the causative organism is the bacterium Brucella melitensis which is conveyed in goat’s milk. In Great Britain, the US and South Africa, the causative organism is the Brucella abortus, which is conveyed in cow’s milk: this is the organism which is responsible for contagious abortion in cattle. In Great Britain brucellosis is largely an occupational disease and is now prescribed as an industrial disease (see OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES), and insured persons who contract the disease at work can claim industrial injuries bene?t. The incidence of brucellosis in the UK has fallen from more than 300 cases a year in 1970 to single ?gures.

Symptoms The characteristic features of the disease are undulating fever, drenching sweats, pains in the joints and back, and headache. The liver and spleen may be enlarged. The diagnosis is con?rmed by the ?nding of Br. abortus, or antibodies to it, in the blood. Recovery and convalescence tend to be slow.

Treatment The condition responds well to one of the tetracycline antibiotics, and also to gentamicin and co-trimoxazole, but relapse is common. In chronic cases a combination of streptomycin and one of the tetracyclines is often more e?ective.

Prevention It can be prevented by boiling or pasteurising all milk used for human consumption. In Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada the disease has disappeared following its eradication in animals. Brucellosis has been eradicated from farm animals in the United Kingdom.... brucellosis

PNEUMONIA caused by a species of the genus of PROTOZOA, a parasitic micro-organism. Pneumocystis carinii causes an opportunistic infection in the lung which is dangerous to people whose immune system is impaired (see IMMUNITY), thus reducing their resistance to infections. People with AIDS/HIV or LEUKAEMIA have impaired immune systems and P. carinii is a major cause of death in the former. Fever, dry cough and breathlessness are among the symptoms; treatment is with high doses of antibiotic drugs such as CO-TRIMOXAZOLE or PENTAMIDINE.... pneumocystis pneumonia

n. a genus of protozoans. The species P. jiroveci (formerly carinii) causes pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients, usually following intensive chemotherapy. Pneumocystis jiroveci (carinii) pneumonia (PCP) is fatal in 10–30% of cases if untreated, but it can be overcome with high doses of *co-trimoxazole or *pentamidine.... pneumocystis

n. see co-trimoxazole.... septrin

n. an antibacterial drug that is active against a range of microorganisms; it is used mainly in the treatment of chronic urinary-tract infections and respiratory-tract infections. Long-term treatment may cause anaemia due to deficiency of folate, with which the drug interacts (see dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor). Trimethoprim is also administered in a combined preparation with sulfamethoxazole (see co-trimoxazole) but is now more usually prescribed alone, because of the severity of the side-effects of co-trimoxazole.... trimethoprim

(sulpha drug) n. one of a group of drugs, derived from sulphanilamide (a red dye), that prevent the growth of bacteria (i.e. they are bacteriostatic). Sulphonamides are effective against a variety of infections and were formerly widely used; because many of them are rapidly excreted and very soluble in the urine, they were particularly useful in treating infections of the urinary tract.

A variety of side-effects may occur with sulphonamide treatment, including nausea, vomiting, headache, and loss of appetite; more severe effects include *cyanosis, blood disorders, skin rashes, and fever. Because of increasing bacterial resistance to sulphonamides, and with the development of more effective less toxic antibiotics, the clinical use of these drugs has declined. Those still used include *sulfadiazine, *sulfasalazine, and sulfamethoxazole (combined with trimethoprim in *co-trimoxazole).... sulphonamide