Infectious disease, which is known as "meningitis", is considered very dangerous for both the patient and others. With such a diagnosis, a person must be immediately taken to a medical institution, where adequate therapy will be selected for him. The main drugs used for treatment are broad-spectrum antibiotics.
It is impossible to cure the disease at home, without going to the doctor. Various folk remedies, methods of alternative medicine and uncontrolled use of drugs can provoke the development of numerous complications and even death. If meningitis is suspected, you need to call an ambulance team or go to the hospital yourself.
Meningitis is a pathology in which damage to the membranes of the spinal cord and brain occurs. Antibiotics for meningitis form the basis of the therapeutic course. In approximately one of four cases, the identification of the pathogen is impossible, as a result of which medications for treatment are often selected by a specialist empirically. And, despite the fact that modern antibiotics have a wide range of effects, the correct selection of drugs requires medical supervision. Therefore, a patient with meningitis should be immediately hospitalized.
How is antibiotic treatment of meningitis, consider below.
Signs of illness
Inflammation of the membranes of the brain can be observed both initially and be the result of the penetration of infections, which in some cases spread through the spinal cord or from another pathological focus. Depending on the causes of meningitis, it can be divided into viral, bacterial, fungal and protozoal. Cases of the development of mixed forms of the disease are not excluded.
The conditions for the course of this disease are diverse. Clinicians distinguish acute, chronic, subacute and rapid forms of the pathological process. Depending on how quickly inflammation begins, specialists can calculate the course of therapy, its duration and time to recover from the disease. For example, in a chronic form, meningitis develops for several months or years, but with a rapid form of pathology, a person can die within a few days after the onset of the inflammatory process.
Viral meningitis
Viral meningitis is most easily tolerated by patients, its symptoms are not too pronounced. The disease can occur with tuberculosis. In this case, inflammation of the meninges develops gradually, the patient has symptoms of intoxication. If his immunity is greatly reduced, this can lead to the development of a fungal form of the disease.
When an infection enters the brain, it begins to spread rapidly through the tissues of this organ and along nerve fibers. If you do not start timely treatment, meningitis can lead to serious irreversible complications. People who have suffered inflammation of the meninges often become disabled, and in the worst case, the disease can cause death. Therefore, proper diagnosis and subsequent treatment play an important role in preventing negative consequences.
The treatment of meningitis with antibiotics of a wide spectrum of exposure, as it is quite difficult to determine the causative agent of the disease. As a rule, the course of treatment lasts at least 10 days until the inflammatory process is eliminated. Next, a weekly therapy follows, which is prescribed after the patient’s condition has normalized.
Antibiotic therapy for purulent meningitis is extended to an absolute recovery.
Preparations
To eliminate the inflammatory process of the meninges, several classes of medications are prescribed:
- Antibiotics of the cephalosporin and penicillin categories (“Cefuroxime” and “Amoxicillin”), monobactam. Carbapenems, aminoglycosides, fluorichlone agents can be attributed to this group. These drugs have a pronounced effect due to good penetrating properties.
- Antibacterial agents having poor permeability through the blood-brain barrier. These drugs include Norfloxacin and Ketonazole.
- Antibacterial drugs that do not have the ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. These are Clindamycin and Amphotericin.
What antibiotics for meningitis are suitable in each case, only the attending physician can determine. Often effective treatment requires a combination of certain drugs of different categories. A specialist can stop treatment only after normalizing the patient's condition and eliminating other manifestations of the disease.
To prevent cerebral edema, which is the most common complication of meningitis, diuretics are prescribed. For detoxification, intravenous infusions of colloidal and crystalloid solutions are used. These procedures are quite dangerous and therefore can only be carried out by qualified specialists.
After an inpatient therapeutic course, the patient is sent home, where he must continue treatment and subsequent rehabilitation.
Consider the most effective antibiotics for meningitis in more detail.
"Cefuroxime"
This drug with antibacterial effects belongs to the category of second generation cephalosporins and is intended for parenteral administration.
Dosage form of the medicine “Cefuroxime” is a powder for the preparation of solutions for intramuscular and intravenous administration: hygroscopic white. The active substance is cefuroxime sodium.
This medication disrupts the synthesis of the cell wall of pathogenic bacteria (bactericidal effect), has an extensive spectrum of antimicrobial effects, and is highly active against the following microorganisms:
- gram-negative, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Proteus mirabilis, Proteus rettgeri, Providencia spp., Haemophilus influenzae, as well as ampicillin-resistant strains;
- gram-positive as well as penicillin-resistant strains (except those resistant to methicillin), Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mitis, group B Streptococcus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Clostridium spp., Bordetella pertussis;
- anaerobes - Fusobacterium spp., Peptostreptococcus spp., Peptococcus spp .;
- Salmonella spp., Neisseria meningitidis;
- Haemophilus parainfluenzae and ampicillin resistant strains.
The following microorganisms are insensitive to the action of the main active element of this drug: Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Clostridium difficile, Pseudomonas spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp., Strains of Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin resistant, Legionella socis morphocida morphida, Stramphocida morphida, Stocphida morphida, Stocyl morphida, Stocyl morphida, Stocyl morphocida, Stocyl morphida, Stocyl morphida, Staphylococcus morphida, Staphylococcus vulgaris, Anthropocyanidae Enterobacter spp., Serratia spp., Proteus vulgaris, Citrobacter spp.
After administration of the drug intramuscularly, the maximum concentration is observed after 15–40 minutes, after intravenous administration, after 15 minutes. The half-life for both methods of administration is from 1 to 1.5 hours. Communication with plasma proteins - 33–49%. In the liver, the active substance is not metabolized and excreted through the kidneys by 85%. "Cefuroxime" in therapeutic doses is present in the pleural fluid, bile, sputum, heart muscle, skin and soft tissues.
Indications
Indications for the use of this medication are infectious inflammatory diseases caused by pathogenic organisms sensitive to its effects, including meningitis.
An absolute contraindication to the use of the antibiotic for meningitis "Cefuroxime" is the presence of intolerance to its substances, including other cephalosporins, penicillins and carbapenems. Relative contraindications are a weakened state, chronic renal failure, diseases of the digestive tract, including a history of ulcerative colitis, various bleeding, neonatality, prematurity, lactation and pregnancy.
Norfloxacin
Another frequently prescribed antibiotic for meningitis is Norfloxacin, a drug from the group of fluoroquinolones, which is used in many areas of medicine for the treatment of inflammatory infectious diseases.
The medicine is made in tablets for oral administration. Tablets contain an active active element - norfloxacin, as well as some additional substances.
This antibiotic for the treatment of meningitis in adults has a wide spectrum of action, highly effective against the following microorganisms:
- gonococci;
- Escherichia;
- hemophilus influenza;
- enterobacteria;
- Klebsiella;
- chlamydia
- Shigella
- salmonella;
- staphylococci;
- streptococci.
Tablets are contraindicated for use under the age of 14 years, during pregnancy, lactation, intolerance to substances, liver and kidney failure.
What other antibiotics (in tablets) are prescribed for meningitis?
Clindamycin
This pharmacological agent is most often used in the treatment of meningitis in children. It has an extensive spectrum of influence and is considered a bacteriostatic, which helps to suppress the process of protein production in pathogenic bacteria. The main component of the drug is active against gram-positive and microaerophilic cocci, as well as gram-positive anaerobic bacilli, which do not form spores.
Most varieties of clostridia are resistant to this antibacterial agent. In accordance with this, if the patient has an infection caused by these types of strains, then it is recommended to initially determine the antibioticogram.
After use, the medication is immediately absorbed in the digestive tract. Eating helps to reduce the rate of absorption, but does not affect the total concentration of the drug in the blood, which easily penetrates all tissues and fluids - lungs, tonsils, saliva, pleura, fallopian tubes, wound surfaces, bronchi, muscle and bone tissue, sputum , synovial fluid, gallbladder ducts, appendix. With the development of the inflammatory process in the shells of the brain, the patency of the drug through the blood-brain barrier increases.
The greatest amount of drugs is observed in the blood about an hour after taking the capsule and is excreted from the body within 4 days through the kidneys and intestines.
This pharmacological agent is contraindicated in the following cases:
- high sensitivity;
- lactation;
- hereditary diseases;
- bronchial asthma;
- this antibiotic is not used for meningitis in children under the age of 3 years (with a body weight of at least 25 kg);
- pregnancy;
- ulcerative colitis;
- myasthenia gravis.
With caution, the drug is prescribed for insufficient functionality of the kidneys and liver.
What antibiotics treat meningitis, not everyone knows. However, to have a general understanding of therapy, it is worth exploring this issue.
Amphotericin B
Macrocyclic polyene antibiotic with antifungal properties. It has fungistatic and fungicidal effects depending on the concentration in body fluids and on the sensitivity of the infectious pathogen. It binds to ergosterols (sterols) located in the cell membranes of a drug-sensitive fungus. As a result, the permeability of the membranes is disrupted and the release of intracellular elements into the extracellular space and death of the fungus is observed.
Contraindications to the use of this pharmacological agent are:
- hypersensitivity;
- chronic renal failure;
- lactation.
With caution, it is used for kidney diseases, amyloidosis, hepatitis, cirrhosis, anemia, agranulocytosis, diabetes mellitus, pregnancy.
Prevention of meningitis with antibiotics
Meningitis is a rather dangerous disease in which the brain is affected and the likelihood of developing other serious pathological conditions increases, which can lead to very serious complications, and even death. Therefore, it is necessary to take preventive measures to prevent the development of this disease. This applies to cases of recent contact with a person with meningitis. In such a situation, it is advisable to take broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs. The list of such drugs includes the above medicines, as well as any drugs from similar pharmacological groups.
We described how antibiotics treat meningitis. Next, consider the reviews.
Reviews
The number of reviews about antibacterial drugs is very large, and they are very diverse. With meningitis, according to patients, a variety of antibiotics are used, and this depends on what kind of pathogen the disease is caused in each case. Good reviews about the use of such antibiotics for meningitis in adults and children as Amoxicillin, Clindamycin, Norfloxacin, Gentamicin, Cefuroxime. According to patients or their parents (in case of illness in young children), these medicines are highly effective, quickly stop inflammatory processes and do not cause a variety of side effects. These reactions in a disease such as meningitis are usually lubricated, and this is due to the fact that the disease itself is quite difficult, so the most noticeable reactions after using antibiotics are patients called digestive disorders, excessive sweating, and pain in the abdomen.