Use of antibiotics for acne may increase risk of common illness, new study found.
Acne sufferers who were prescribed with antibiotics for acne for more than six weeks more than twice as likely to develop an upper respiratory tract infection within one year, according to an article.
Overuse of antibiotics when treating acne may lead to resistant organisms and an increase in infectious illness, authors of a study published in the September issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
15.4 percent of acne sufferers who received either topical or oral antibiotic for more than six weeks for treatment of their acne had at least one upper respiratory tract infection, and within that year, the odds of a upper respiratory tract infection developing among those receiving antibiotic treatment were 2.15 times greater than among those who were not receiving antibiotic treatment, the authors report.
Acne sufferers may develop an increasing resistance among bacterial pathogens exposed to antibiotics during acne treatment.
This finding may help acne patients and practitioners to balance the risk of these infections with the benefits that patients with acne receive from this therapy.
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