Combining Steroids and Antibiotics may Help in Quick Recovery from Pneumonia

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have revealed that a combination of corticosteroids with traditional antimicrobial therapy may help people with pneumonia recover more quickly than with antibiotics alone.

Corticosteroids are often used to treat inflammation related to infectious diseases, such as bacterial meningitis, but they have been rendered ineffective in case of other infectious diseases.

Pneumonia - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention, Complications
Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by a bacteria or a virus. It causes inflammation of the alveoli or the air sacs of the lungs.

In a new study, scientists have shown that mice with a type of severe bacterial pneumonia, when treated with steroids and antibiotics recovered faster.

The steroid treated mice had far less inflammation in their lungs than mice treated with antibiotics alone.

"Some people might think that if you give steroids, it would counteract the effect of the antibiotic. But it turns out you need the antibiotic to kill the bug and the steroid to make the inflammation in the lung from the infection get better. The steroids don't kill the bugs, but they do help restore health," said Dr. Robert Hardy, associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics and the study's senior author.

Hib Vaccine - Types, Dosage Schedule, Contraindications and Side Effects
The Hib vaccine protects children against infections like meningitis and pneumonia that are caused by the Haemophilus influenzae type b bacterium.

For the study, the researchers gave a daily treatment of a placebo, an antibiotic, a steroid, or a combination of the antibiotic and steroid to mice infected with the M pneumoniae bacterium. The animals were then evaluated after one, three and six days of therapy.

"It turns out that the group that got both the antibiotic and the steroids did the best. The inflammation in their lungs got significantly better," said Hardy .

Respiratory Diseases - Diseases of the Human Respiratory System
Respiratory diseases affect any part of the respiratory system. Some of the lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can lead to respiratory failure.

While antimicrobials have been the primary therapy for M pneumoniae infection, many physicians have tried adding steroids to the treatment regimen of patients with severe cases. But, Hardy said that the problem is that those were individual case reports.

"They never had a control group, so it was impossible to tell what impact the addition of steroids had on recovery," he said.

Lung Biopsy - Indications - Procedures - Risks - FAQs - Reference
The procedure by which tissue samples are obtained from the lung is known as lung biopsy. The biopsy tissues obtained from the lungs are examined by a pathologist.

The new findings suggest that giving antibiotics with steroids can help individuals with pneumonia get better faster.

Also, the research suggests a potentially more effective therapy for someone in the midst of an asthma attack due to M pneumoniae infection.

The study is available online and in a future issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Source-ANI
RAS/SK