Medizinische Universität Graz - Research portal
Selected Publication:
Gjokaj, B.
Antibiotics in Childhood
Humanmedizin; [ Diplomarbeit ] Graz Medical University; 2016. pp. 63
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- Authors Med Uni Graz:
- Advisor:
- Donnerer Josef
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- Abstract:
- Infections are a common cause of illness in children, particularly in the first years of life. More than 10 million childhood deaths occurring around the world each year are mainly caused by infections. If a minor infection is left untreated (or if it’s not appropriately treated) it can progress to a life threatening disease, therefore the immediate diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases is very important in minimizing the mortality in children. Respiratory tract infections are the most frequent infectious diseases affecting children followed by urinary tract infections, which are mainly treated with antibiotics. Long-term use of antibiotics is applied also in the cases of severe recurrent pulmonary infections, occurring in children suffering from cystic fibrosis. Due to frequent occurring infectious diseases in children, antibiotics are one of the most commonly prescribed drug groups in children. Unfortunately, they are sometimes unnecessarily used, thus leading to a serious problem – emergence of antimicrobial resistant organisms. The thesis is based on existing research literature. For this purpose, different text books, journals, medical publications, literature-databases and internet sources were used. The aim of the thesis is to give a review of major antibiotics that are used most commonly in treatment of infectious diseases in pediatric population such as respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections. I will be discussing also about the antibiotics used in children with cystic fibrosis. The discovery of antibiotics is one of the most significant achievements of the 20th century. Since their discovery, antibiotics have been seen as the only option for curing the bacterial infections. At the beginning they were successfully used as the primary defense against bacterial infections. Thus, the discovery of the very first antimicrobial agents served as a model for developing other important antibiotic families. The golden age of chemotherapy is characterized with a mass production of antibiotics by mankind, which led to a rapid increase of bacterial resistance. The evolution of multidrug-resistant pathogens nowadays is one of the major challenges for clinicians and scientists.