New Delhi, July 26 (IANS). Every year, millions of children around the world fall prey to dangerous diseases like pneumonia and a large number of them have to be admitted to hospital. This disease remains a major cause of death of children in poor and developing countries. In such a situation, a new international research has come out, in which it has been claimed that after the health of a child suffering from pneumonia improves, giving oral antibiotics instead of injections is completely safe and effective.
Actually, City St. George’s University of London, UCL Innovative Clinical Trials Unit and many scientists from Africa and Europe have jointly prepared this research. Its results have been published in the world’s famous medical journal The Lancet. Researchers say that if the treatment rules are changed in future on the basis of this research, then millions of children around the world can benefit from it.
Research has shown that as per the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO), children with severe pneumonia are given antibiotics through injection for at least five days. Due to this, many children have to stay in the hospital for longer than necessary. Many times it happens that the child’s condition has already improved a lot, but to complete the treatment, he has to be kept in the hospital.
Doctors say that staying in the hospital for a long time increases many problems. The cost of treatment increases, the pressure of patients on hospitals increases and the risk of children contracting other infections inside the hospital also increases. Also, children and their families face both mental and financial distress due to prolonged hospital stay.
In view of these problems, scientists conducted a research named Pedicap. 1,101 children aged between two months to six years were included in this research. These children had to be admitted to the hospital due to serious illness. This research was conducted in 13 hospitals in South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
During the research, all the children were initially treated with injectable antibiotics as per WHO guidelines. After this the doctors kept an eye on the condition of the children. Some of the children whose health showed improvement were stopped from injection and given oral amoxicillin. Some children were given amoxicillin-clavulanate, while the rest were given injections for the full five days.
After this the scientists compared the health of the children of the three groups. They saw which children recovered quickly, how many had to come to the hospital again and how many’s condition deteriorated. The results were shocking. The recovery of children who were given oral medicine instead of injections was as good as that of children who took injections.
The research revealed that the rate of re-hospitalization or death within 28 days of treatment was almost the same in all three groups. This rate was 6 percent in children taking amoxicillin, 7 percent in those taking amoxicillin-clavulanate and 6 percent in children taking injections for full five days.
In the research, researchers also observed that for how many days would it be best to give antibiotics to children. For this, children who received treatment for four, five, seven and eight days were compared. The results showed that treatment for four to five days was as effective as treatment for seven or eight days. This means that in many cases there is no need to give antibiotics to children for longer than necessary.
Research revealed that children who were given oral medicine instead of injection were discharged from the hospital on an average a day earlier. With this, beds in hospitals can be freed up quickly and other serious patients can get timely treatment.
–IANS
PK/VC
