Penicillin

Faith

Just a random question here: Penicillin can cure a huge range of bacterial infections, from a cough to syphilis. If you take one course of it, to treat say tonsillitis, will it also clear up any other bacterial infections that you have (that can be treated with penicillin)? If you had contracted an STD without knowing it, like chlamydia or gonorrhea, would that then be successfully treated via a course of penicillin for another infection?

Basically I'm asking, does taking a course of penicillin give you a clean slate for other bacterial infections?

InFront

It depends, there are different types of penicillin. Different penicillins will be absorbed to different degrees when taken orally, and will vary in effectiveness and potency.

Say for example you gave Penicillin V to someone with tonsillitis. Well, if they have a staphylococcus infection that you don't know about, that therapy isn't going to worry Staph, they need another type of PCN. (Staphylococci find it reasonably easy to "take" that type of penicillin because they hit back at it with a special enzyme). So different penicillins are recommended for different conditions and different patients (e.g. those at risk for adverse reactions, etc.)
So there does need to be a certain degree of fine tuning to get the most beneficial effect from the penicillin family.

Having said that, one type can treat many conditions, and the patient might just 'get lucky' (pardon the phrase). I'm sure there would be a response in most cases, but it might not be the most effective response.

Edit: oh and penicillin isn't much good for chlamydia, and possibly not gonorrhea sometimes

Faith

Ah right, I thought it might be something along those lines. Nice one, InFront!

Guess I'll have to go back to the doctor about those damn STDs

Capt'n Midnight

Don't forget that some people are allergic to it. Also because antibiotics have been over used many microorgaanisms are immune to them.

Tip: eat some natural yougurt if you are on antibiotics since they will also kill off a lot of the bacteria in your gut.

John

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Tip: eat some natural yougurt if you are on antibiotics since they will also kill off a lot of the bacteria in your gut.

I can attest to this thanks to a recent bout of sickness I had (no, not STDs before anyone asks!), my tumbly was in bits thanks to the antibiotics. BAD ANTIBIOTICS!

Faith

Aye, antibiotics cause unpleasant effects in me too. Often I find it's not even worth taking them. I used to get tonsillitus a lot, and my doctor told me that taking antibiotics would only reduce the illness by about a day.

DrIndy

If you took a course of penicillin for a sore throat you would theoretically cure yourself of syphillis.

If you took a course of doxycycline for sinusitis, then you would cure yourself of chlamydia.

If you were taking ciprofloxacin for a bladder infection, then you would also kill off gonorrhea.

These are not always standard antibiotics though used for chest and bladder infections so most people don't take the right antibiotics for one infection to advantageously cure another.