Drugs for acne, possible cause of pharyngitis

Taking antibiotics for the treatment of acne may be associated with symptoms of sore throat, according to a study published this week in the journal Archives of Dermatology ' . People who undergo drug therapy are more likely to have throat pain or irritation.

"The long-term use of these medications may change the balance of bacteria and this would facilitate the development of infections," argue the authors of the study, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, USA). For this reason, patients become more prone to respiratory tract infections.

What has always been associated with some antibiotics such as tetracycline, says Raul de Lucas, a dermatologist at the Hospital La Paz in Madrid, "is the appearance of esophagitis, which sometimes is a lot like clinical pharyngitis . " In general, these treatments "are recommended for periods of two to four months."

As underlined by the investigators, "doubts about the possible long-term effects of these medications come back, but still not very clear." Given the prevalence and frequent use of these drugs, "it is important to study the long-term effects to stronger conclusions."

David Margolis and his team conducted two studies to examine adolescents on the one hand, the association between treatment and pharyngitis and, secondly, the relationship between oral drugs used and the rate of colonization of streptococcus group A ( GAS), responsible for most cases of strep throat.

According to the results, 11.3% of students taking oral agents went to the doctor for a sore throat. However, youth who used topical (lotions), only 3.3% had such symptoms. In this subgroup, we found the streptococcus in a scant 1% of the participants so that relationship was established with pharyngitis.

Preliminary results

"Our study shows that strep is multiplied by three in patients receiving oral therapy compared to those using only topical," he says Margolis. However, "more research is needed to confirm these conclusions." For example, recognizes the principal investigator, "we should explore other bacteria causing the infection." Furthermore, "it would be interesting to understand the reason that antibiotics cause harm. It could be breaking the balance of bacteria in the throat, but also gastric mucosal disorders that cause stomach acids to rise and irritate the throat."

In this line says dermatologist Spanish, who asserts that "at present we can not draw accurate concluciones studies, since both pharyngitis and acne are two highly prevalent diseases in students and may be associated in a purely casual ". He adds: "It would take a greater volume of patients, ie, larger studies and double blind (versus placebo) to check the strength of this association."

If confirmed in future studies the relationship, "it would have to select patients more susceptible to suffer from sore throat and opt for other treatments such as oral retinoids (isotretinoin) and, in women, hormone therapy," says Specialist Hospital La Paz.

For now, Margolis notes, "our results do not indicate that people need to avoid oral medications to treat acne. First you have to investigate further and, on the other hand, one should evaluate in each case the relationship between risk and benefit. "