MONDAY, Sept. 19, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Using antibiotics for more than six weeks to treat acne more than doubles than risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection, a new study finds.
The findings may give insight into the dangers of long-term antibiotic use in raising risks for infection with organisms resistant to current drugs, say researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Long-term antibiotic use is standard and appropriate therapy for patients with acne, with the most common drugs used including the tetracycline family of antibiotics and clindamycin.
"Patients with acne represent an ideal model in which to study the long-term effects of antibiotic therapy, the risks associated with colonization, and the risks of increasing resistance among bacterial pathogens exposed to antibiotics during treatment," the researchers wrote.
Reporting in the September issue of the Archives of Dermatology, the U. Penn team studied more than 118,000 patients with acne and found that those treated with topical or oral antibiotics for more than six weeks were more than twice as likely to suffer an upper respiratory tract infection within a year, compared to people with acne who didn't receive antibiotic treatment.
The finding may seem counterintuitive -- antibiotics act against bacteria, but 90 percent of upper respiratory tract infections (which include cold and flu) are caused by viruses.
However, the researchers believe that the activity of drug-resistant bacteria in the upper respiratory tract might encourage the "infectivity" of viruses, as well, explaining the increased risk for these illnesses in long-term antibiotic users.
The implications of these findings for acne patients remains unclear, the researchers say.
Whether or not "patients and practitioners [will] need to balance the risk of infections with the benefits that patients with acne receive from this therapy, will require further investigation," the study authors wrote.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about acne treatments.
