Treating Strep Once A Day - with amoxicillin - Brief Article

Pediatrics for Parents, May, 1998

The standard antibiotic treatment for strep throat is a dose of penicillin three times a day for 10 days. Penicillin is safe, well tolerated and inexpensive. But giving it three times a day is inconvenient, particularly if the child is in school. Many times doses are missed.

There are some newer antibiotics used for the treatment of strep that are taken only once a day. These drugs have some drawbacks. One is cost. A l0 day course of penicillin usually costs under $3. A 10 day course of one of the newer, once-a-day antibiotics, runs between $33 and $77. Another drawback of these newer antibiotics is that using them for strep throat may be "overkill." Their use for infections that really don't require their strength may contribute the resistance many bacteria are developing to antibiotics.

Now there's a way to get the best of both worlds -- once a day dosing, yet inexpensive cost. A recent study compared the effectiveness of 10 days of penicillin taken three times a day with a 10 day course of amoxicillin taken once a day.

Both drugs were equally effective in eliminating the strep bacteria. Parents liked the once-a-day dosing of the amoxicillin. And the cost of the amoxicillin, $6 for a 10 day course, was much more reasonable than the cost of the newer antibiotics.