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Rosemary
United Kingdom
2028 Posts |
 Posted - 02/05/2009 : 15:58:34
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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/antibiotics-blamed-for-child-deafness-1546400.html
Antibiotics blamed for child deafness
Treatment for premature babies triggers hearing loss in the genetically susceptible
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Thursday, 5 February 2009
One child a week is being made deaf by treatment with antibiotics and many more may suffer damage to their hearing, doctors report today.
The serious side-effect causing life-long disability occurs among children with a pre-existing sensitivity to powerful antibiotics widely used in premature baby units to treat infections.
The discovery by researchers at the Institute of Child Health in London triggered calls yesterday for a national screening programme for pregnant women to detect babies at risk. An estimated 20,000 premature babies are treated each year with the powerful antibiotics, called aminoglycosides. The drugs are also used to tackle infections in children with cancer and chronic illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, and in adults. Genetic specialists at the Institute of Child Health, who reviewed blood samples from over 9,000 children, found one in 500 had a genetic mutation that made them vulnerable to aminoglycosides.
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Rosemary
United Kingdom
2028 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 16:15:56
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| "Dr Bitner-Glindzicz said: "It was known a side effect was hearing loss, but if doctors found a case of hearing loss in a premature baby, they tended to ascribe it to prematurity or that the dose of antibiotics was too high. Now we have established it is to do with genetic susceptibility, and it affects one in 500 babies." |
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rampantrotarian
United Kingdom
1 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 20:53:29
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The antibiotic in question was gentamycin - an antibiotic with a known propensity for attacking the auditory nerve. This antibiotic is used VERY rarely, and only in life-saving situations. The way the report was worded makes out that ALL antibiotics cause deafness, which is just not true. The penicillins, and macrolides (erythromycin etc.) are every day run of the mill agents used to treat infections of childhood, and don't cause deafness
This forum must learn not to tar every drug as the same, Everything has it's own foibles. By listening to Andrew Wakefield and his research has got you all into the same paranoid situation - you see evil in everything the medical profession does - hence this forum. Remember, the diagnosis of dyslexia is for the middle class child - for the child of working class parents, it's just that he is a lazy little sod!!
Regards
Rampantrotarian
rampantrotarian |
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Rosemary
United Kingdom
2028 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 21:08:28
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[quote][i]Originally posted by rampantrotarian[/i]
[br]The antibiotic in question was gentamycin - an antibiotic with a known propensity for attacking the auditory nerve. This antibiotic is used VERY rarely,
How can it be used rarely ????????????????
If....
Quote
" One child a week is being made deaf by treatment with antibiotics and many more may suffer damage to their hearing, doctors report today." |
Edited by - Rosemary on 02/05/2009 21:08:57 |
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Occam48
691 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 21:31:52
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Rosemary
Woopie do let's jump on some life saving antibiotic, now let's get the facts clear.
As Rampantrotarian says these are hospital I/V antibiotics, not something that you'll get from your GP. As a class they are known to be potentially ototoxic (streptomycin an early version was particularly bad) but they are used on seriously ill patients and the serum concentrations are monitored to ensure that in most people ototoxicity issues shouldn't arise.
The girl in question had leukaemia and I guess was going down with an episode of febrile neutropenia, in other words Rosemary she'd have a high probability of dying of sepsis if not treated with aggressive antibiotic therapy.
Aminoglycosides were probably the antibiotic of choice for empiric therapy at the hospital so that was the correct decision in those circumstances.
This groups apparently found a genetic test capable of predicting aminoglycoside sensitivity, it maybe of use but hell if I had leukaemia with a febrile episode bring on the aminoglycoside (or carbapenem) and I'll take a 1:500 risk of deafness rather than a good chance of dying before the genetic test was through.
What precisely is your point Rosemary you found some bit of journalesse that says there's a 1:500 chance of seriously ill kids going deaf when treated with one class of life saving antibiotics???
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Rosemary
United Kingdom
2028 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 23:14:28
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" Genetic specialists at the Institute of Child Health, who reviewed blood samples from over 9,000 children, found one in 500 had a genetic mutation that made them vulnerable to aminoglycosides."
Occam,
I am interested in genetic mutations!
I am interested in finding out why there has been such an increase in genetic mutations in children ? and I am also interested in finding out what is causing these genetic mutations.?
So tell me Occam
What type of bacterial infections are these prem babies born with in order for them to need treatment with antibiotics such as IV gentamycin ?
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Edited by - Rosemary on 02/05/2009 23:41:05 |
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Darkspoon
2 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 00:06:27
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"Gentamicin is bactericidal and is active against many strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens including species of Escherichia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Salmonella, Serratia, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, some Proteus and against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Gentamicin is often effective against strains of these organisms which are resistant to other antibiotics such as streptomycin, kanamycin and neomycin. Gentamicin is effective against penicillin-resistant Staphylococci, but rarely effective against Streptococci."
More information available at: http://emc.medicines.org.uk/document.aspx?documentId=6529
Please be careful when posting remarks like "Antibiotics blamed for child deafness" as the average punter will just read the headline and then not give their child the erythromycin for the ear infection, and the child could then become deaf.
Darkspoon. |
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MinorityView
USA
611 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 00:16:58
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Okay, Darkspoon, and will you be careful posting remarks like: "Vaccines are safe" on boards? Someone might read the headline, believe you, get their kid vaxed...and then have to deal with a terrible reaction.
Hey folks, I think this board is being targeted by a bunch of allopathic vax believers!
Man the barricades (or woman as the case may be).
Aged survivor of many years of alternative health care...and one vaccine, administered by a doctor without the consent of my parents, 50 years ago. |
Edited by - MinorityView on 02/06/2009 00:17:19 |
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Darkspoon
2 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 00:44:27
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I don't think I mentioned vaccines or their safety. I'm sure the subject was antibiotics.
Darkspoon |
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MinorityView
USA
611 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 02:13:59
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Just reading between the lines.
Everything is quiet around here for a couple of weeks and within a few days we have several brand new posters nitpicking around and making clever remarks about this and that.
This is a board for the parents of vaccine damaged children.
Yes?
Aged survivor of many years of alternative health care...and one vaccine, administered by a doctor without the consent of my parents, 50 years ago. |
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Aasa
Canada
735 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 03:45:13
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Rosemary wrote:
I am interested in genetic mutations!
I am interested in finding out why there has been such an increase in genetic mutations in children ? and I am also interested in finding out what is causing these genetic mutations.?
----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Rosemary,
Here's something I heard on the news today which may be of interest to you, about Vitamin D, genetic damage, and MS:
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/02/05/ms-vitamin-d.html
Aasa |
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Angladrion
New Zealand
153 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 10:35:36
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quote:
[i]Originally posted by Darkspoon[/i]Please be careful when posting remarks like "Antibiotics blamed for child deafness" as the average punter will just read the headline and then [u]not give their child the erythromycin for the ear infection[/u], and the child could then become deaf.
Darkspoon.
  come on them darkspoon. But up your PMID numbers which show that erythromycin "works" for ear infections...
"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." - Samuel Adams |
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brainsys
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 13:12:50
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I joined to add that this is hardly new news. My daughter had pneumococcal meningitis in 1986, had a very close scrape saved only by huge amounts of ABs (forgive me for not remembering which ones).
She became profoundly deaf and the doctors at the time clearly linked the probable cause to the treatment. It was a case of better deaf than dead. We agreed (and deafness is IMHO the most damaging sensory loss). Hopefully things have progressed and modern stuff is not so aggressive.
I always have a presumption that all medicine has unfortunate side effects. The fact that it is offered implies it has a distinct upside. Getting the balance right is key. I'm horrified here that so much balancing on vaccines is done from a non-scientific basis. Not that science can get things awfully wrong (I'm old enough to remember thalidomide) but it was science that recognised that and was the stick to get it stopped.
Which is why I was horrified by what Andrew Wakefield did. Bad science, bad care on the effects of his conjecture being paraded as fact. The prediction that loss of herd protection would cause damage far in excess than if his conjecture had any basis.
Well chickens are coming home to roost. Thankfully not as many as expected at the moment, but still too many. Guess this isn't going to make me poster of the week. |
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GUS THE FUSS
United Kingdom
1449 Posts |
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brainsys
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 14:13:19
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I'm sorry but I missed the connection between your reference and science.
The issue is not whether Alan Wakefield thought he had found a possible connection - a conjecture (much science starts at that point) but whether he had either established a connection or not. I would look forward to hearing on what basis a connection had been established without double-blind testing, significant population and the rest of the usual procedure.
That is why I use the word conjecture. Is that unfair? Do you believe the publicity generated and for which he had some responsibility maintained that rather than become a basis for parental decision making?
As I'm knew here I'm guessing this may already have been done to death. If so, link to me to the thread and I shall quietly go away. |
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brainsys
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2009 : 14:27:01
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| Apologies for misnaming Andrew etc - but I have yet to discover the edit button. Help! |
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Antibiotics blamed for child deafness
