Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Question

I have a child 10 years old, infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and following treatment with antibiotics in hospitals, will ever get rid of this microbe from the lungs? wait your answer

Answer

Dear questioner,
as this is a forum for CF patients, we assume, that your child suffers from cystic fibrosis and has had a positive finding of Pseudmonas aeruginosa. This epresents a common and main problem in the course of CF. It is impossible to give you a clear answer in your specific case, as we do not know anything about the time for how long your child is positive for Pseudomonas and which therapeutic measures have been taken so far.
We can just make some general remarks on this germ and so trying to answer your question:
First of all it is important to know if Pseudomonas has been detected for the first time and we do not find any clinical signs of infection like e.g. fever. Than one can assume that we have to deal with an initial colonization of Pseudomonas. Here, an early and aggressive treatment is necessary to prevent or delay the chronic P. aeruginosa infection. In this early state, the chances of getting rid of Pseudomonas with an adequate therapy are good. The possible therapy regimes include inhalative, oral or i.v. antibiotic therapy and vary from country to country and center to center. In case Pseudmonas is present in the bronchial tree for more than 6 months, based on at least 3 postive cultures, togehter with clinical signs of infection like e.g. fever, we talk about chronic infection with Pseudomonas. In this case, an adequate antibiotic therapy is very important in order to reduce a decline in lung function due to the chronic inflammtion. Here, it is very difficult to get rid of Pseudmonas again but thanks to a consequent therapy one can keep it in check. Like with the early intervention therapy, the therapy of chronic Pseudomonas infection contains a combination of i.v. and inhalative antibiotic therapy, sometimes combined with oral antibiotic therapy and the frequence and exact scheme differes again from country to country and center to center.
Only your doctor in charge at your Cf center who knows all about your special
case can prescribe the best therapy regimen for you.
We hope that we could help you a bit with this general information.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. L. Pop

06.04.2009