Original articlesAntibiotic prophylaxis with azithromycin or penicillin for childhood-onset neuropsychiatric disorders
Section snippets
Subjects
Children with a history of a sudden onset or abrupt exacerbations of tic or obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with GAS infection were recruited for this study from July 1999 through September 2002. Recruitment was achieved by advertisements placed in the newsletters of the Tourette’s syndrome Association and the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation, direct mailings to child psychiatrists and pediatricians in the Washington D.C. metro area, and on the National Institute of Mental Health PANDAS
Study subjects
Between July 1999 and September 2002, 248 telephone screenings were conducted and 51 children were seen in the outpatient clinic for an in-person assessment. Thirty-three of these met criteria for study entry. Nine children either chose not to participate in the study (n = 7) or were excluded after the baseline evaluation (n = 2). Of the latter group, one subject was unable to tolerate the baseline blood draw and one subject was unable to swallow the study capsules. One subject dropped out of
Discussion
Both the penicillin group and the azithromycin group demonstrated significant decreases in GAS infections during the study year, compared to the year prior to receiving antibiotic prophylaxis. The results indicate that both penicillin and azithromycin are effective in preventing GAS infections when taken as prescribed. There was only one GAS infection in each group over a 12-month observation period, which represents a 96% reduction in GAS infections during the year of antibiotic prophylaxis
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