Pneumococcal pneumonia, meningococcal meningitis, and some strains of Haemophilus influenzae may be fight against with penicillins. Penicillins are the number one choice of doctors for fighting the streptococcal pneumoniae, the most common bacteria encountered in pneumonia infection.
Generally, all types of antibiotics have an increased rate of curing pneumonia. Those rates range from 73 to 96 percents for people treated in hospitals and above 90 percents for people treated outside hospitals.
Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Haemophilus influenzae bacteria are easily killed by penicillins.
However, there may be strains of bacteria that are resistant to penicillins and in these cases other antibiotics are taken.
The effectiveness of penicillin may be increased when it is used together with other medications like clavulante.
Bacteria that cause commonly pneumonia in otherwise healthy people, like chlamydia pneumoniae or mycoplasma pneumoniae are not treated with penicillins.
Penicillins' side effects are:
Those last two symptoms may occur especially if the medicine is taken on an empty stomach.
There are cases of people who are allergic to penicillins. Those persons may encounter symptoms like tight throat and difficult breathing. In those cases, the treatment of pneumonia includes other types of antibiotics.
Persons who follow an augmentin treatment are not recommended to take two pills of 250 mg instead of one of 500 mg because they increase the amount of clavulante, which may cause nausea.
Treatments for pneumonia usually contain penicillins, fact that led to modifications of some bacteria strains that made them resistant to this antibiotic. The resistance of the bacteria against antibiotics may be prevented if all the treatments are taken as prescribed and directed by specialists. Stopping a treatment before term, even if the patient is feeling better, is not recommended, because the bacteria that weren't killed grow stronger and become antibiotic resistant.