Just wondering about Pseudomonas..

[AllthebestforLiam]

My little son Liam was on a Cephalosporin (an antibiotic) for six weeks in April/May because of a very prolonged infection series. In June he cultured Pseudomonas for the first time.
I was wondering whether any of you have noticed a connection between the use of an antibiotic (for any kind of unspecific infection) and subsequently cultured pseudomonas. And whether your doctors also advise you to take an antibiotic for at least three weeks once you start one.

Could it be that Pseudomonas likes to turn up in our cultures for the first time after all the "normal" bacteria like Staph and Hemophilus have been temporarily eradicated by an antibiotic, i.e. that there is a selection of Pseudomonas during the use of "unspecific" antibiotics? Should we then maybe be very very restrictive with the use of antibiotics, and only give them for as long as absolutely necessary, instead of three weeks minimum?
I'd be very interested in your thoughts.
When did you first culture Pseudomonas? Were you on antibiotics beforehand?
Thanks!

 

[Twistofchaos]

It's true that bacteria sometimes seem to push for dominance.
With myself this seemed also true. Culturing staph most of my childhood I believe had a part in keeping pseudomonas away ironically.

Eradicating a dominant infection could potentially open up room for another type it seems so yes, it's possible. But that does not mean ofcourse that one could or should strive for some active less harmful in theory bug to keep more harmful ones away because all of them will make one sick and do serious damage.

Ofcourse one wishes to use as little antibiotics and as infrequently as possible but very often there's no choice as seems the case with Liam. It's go all in or remain sick. Two to three weeks minimum is often needed to eradicate the bugs that are sensitive to the antibiotics completely as to not leave any to survive (the strongest ones) that in a reflare would be a lot less sensitive to that same antibiotic. So to keep using an antibiotic after most of the symptoms have already disappeared is often to try and prevent immunity. Which is best can often only be determined with 20/20 hindsight unfortunately.

 

[QTPie]

Please take the full dose of antibiotics. Not doing contributes to greater antibiotic resistance, which makes the bugs a lot harder to treat down the road - for both your son and the rest of us. I would also ask your care team specifically about opportunistic bacteria - and whether Pseudomonas is one of them. If so, it likely has more to do with a weaker immunity than the use of antibiotics.