Antibiotics for kidney infection

Inflammation of the kidneys is usually called nephritis or pyelonephritis. The most common causes of this problem are bacterial infection caused by bacteria such as Escherichia coli or Enterococcus faecalis. Abdominal pain and painful sensation while urinating may raise concern for kidney infection. Many patients diagnosed with nephritis also have reported tenderness of the bladder and some fragility, especially on the side of kidney affected with infection.

Antibiotic Therapy

Only treatment recommended for nephritis is antibiotic therapy. These drugs can successfully fight against harmful bacteria damaging your kidneys and prevent any further medical problems that may arise. Appropriate treatment with antibiotics can prevent any permanent damage of the kidneys and septicemia (presence of bacteria in the blood).

Beta-Lactam Antibiotics in Nephritis

This group of antibiotic drugs includes: penicillins, cephalosporins, monobactams and carapenems, commonly used medications for treatment of various bacterial infection in the body. However, two most used of these for kidney infections are amoxicillin (penicillin) and cephalosporins. Patients treated with these medications have reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and irritability as bothering adverse effects. Amoxicillin may provoke itchy rash that could be mistaken for measles and this is more likely to happen to someone who never had some antibiotics before.

Bactrim and Trimethoprim

Combination of Trimethoprim and Sulfametoxazole medications is known as Co-Trimoxazole, Septra or Bactrim. This combo drug works by inhibiting synthesis of folate in bacterial cells, thus stopping their growth. Bactrim may cause certain toxic side effects, which has caused its ban in several countries.

Trimethoprim alone is commonly used to treat kidney infections or some other urinary tract infections. It belongs to the group of antibiotics known as dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors. As the name says, this drug works by inhibiting the enzyme responsible for production of folate in bacterial cells. Therefore, bacterial cells lack folic acid and this negatively affects division of bacterial cells. It can be found under different names on the market, such as: Monotrim, Proloprim or Triprim. This medication is not recommended for pyelonephritis treatment of people suffering from blood disorders or pregnant women during first trimester of pregnancy. Quinolones/Fluoroquinolones

This class of drugs is known to have especially broad spectrum and be effective against many bacteria, both Gram positive and Gram negative. Ciprofloxacin in fluoroquinolone drug of second generation and this drug can be used to treat kidney infections. Doctors prefer to use this antibiotic in cases when the kidney disease is especially acute or when antibiotics of first choice fail to be effective.