From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Erybid vs amoxicillin?
Date: 2 Apr 1999 03:42:23 GMT

In <37038E90.CE6@cam.org> Pierre G <caroleb@cam.org> writes:

>One month ago I was disgnosed with bronchitis. I was given amoxicillin
>for ten days. Iy killed bronchitis but a few days later I began to have
>pain on left side when coughing, laughing, moving,etc. Had an x-ray
>doctor found a light pneumonia and gave me nothing because I just had
>antibiotics. He told me the pain was ude to pleural infection and
>intra-rib muscles. It was about 2 weeks ago. No more cough but still the
>same pain on the left. Yesterday I resumed coughing. Went to the doctor
>today (another one) and he told me amoxicillin was not very good ans he
>prescribed me erybid. I would like to know the differences between the
>two.


Different classes of antibiotics is all.  Erybid is erythromycin in a
slow release form.  It's more likely to kill Hemophilus influenza (a
common bronchitis and pneumonia bacterium) which is now mostly
resistant to amoxicillin.  And it gets mycoplasma, a common cause of
respiratory disease in young adults, which amoxicillin does not touch.
In addition, erythromycin is itself an anti-inflammatory, and helps
with irritation of the bronchioles even when it is ineffective against
whatever organism (such as a virus) is making them give you trouble.
Its only major drawback is that it's harder on the stomach.

From: David Rind <drind@caregroup.harvard.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Erybid vs amoxicillin?
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 09:11:57 -0500

Steven B. Harris wrote:
> Different classes of antibiotics is all.  Erybid is erythromycin in a
> slow release form.  It's more likely to kill Hemophilus influenza (a
> common bronchitis and pneumonia bacterium) which is now mostly
> resistant to amoxicillin.

Although there's a lot of H.flu resistance to amoxicillin around,
I'm not sure that erythro is more likely to get H.flu than amox.
H.flu is only variably sensitive to erythro.  Here, at least,
I think more than half of H.flu infections in adults are
sensitive to amox, and I saw a 1997 number that nationwide 2/3
of H.flu was sensitive to amox.

--
David Rind
drind@caregroup.harvard.edu

From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: erythromycin
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 14:33:09 -0700
Message-ID: <b8hieg$hti$1@slb6.atl.mindspring.net>

"j" <john62@electronmail.com> wrote in message
news:3EAC1EE6.5020706@electronmail.com...
> are there any side effects to erythromycin
>


The standard generic stuff (many salts available, but none
much better than the others) is famous for causing
stomach/GI upset in some people. The stuff as supplied in
"tiny time pills" or beadlets in a capsule (ERYC and
generics of it) seems a little better. Why do you ask?