For kids prone to wheezing with respiratory infections, early antibiotics help
In children whose colds tend to progress and lead to severe wheezing and difficulty breathing — such that they are given oral corticosteroids as rescue therapy — researchers have shown that giving a common antibiotic at the first sign of symptoms can reduce the risk of the episode developing into a severe lower respiratory tract illness.
Treatment strategy may reduce infants’ wheezing caused by virus
The antibiotic azithromycin may reduce the risk of
recurrent wheezing in infants hospitalized with a common respiratory
infection, according to a small pilot study at the School of Medicine. Reduced wheezing may lower an infant’s
risk of developing asthma over the next several years, according to the
researchers, including first author Avraham Beigelman, MD.
Daily wheezing treatment no different from intermittent in toddlers
Pediatricians often treat young children who have frequent bouts of wheezing with a daily dose of an inhaled steroid to keep asthma symptoms at bay. But results of a recent study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, including Leonard B. Bacharier, MD, are likely to change that.
Children with frequent wheezing illnesses sought for study
Two related studies at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Louis Children’s Hospital are looking at whether medication can prevent respiratory infections in young children from becoming more serious.