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About 200 babies at a Knoxville, Tenn. hospital were
given oral erythromycin because of a whooping cough outbreak earlier this
year, and seven later developed pyloric stenosis, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Normally, just one baby in 200 would develop the
disorder, in which a stomach muscle enlarges and prevents food from passing
into the small intestine, researchers said.
“The result is forceful or projectile vomiting,”
said Margaret Honein of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health.
Investigators concluded there was “an association
between taking the antibiotic erythromycin and being at an increased risk of
pyloric stenosis,” said Honein.
The seven infants, all less than three weeks of age,
underwent surgery and have recovered.
Successful
Sugeries
“The surgery for pyloric stenosis is considered very safe and effective and
all of the seven infants in this investigation recovered completely and are
doing well,” Honein said.
Because whooping cough can be fatal in very young
infants, the CDC urged doctors to carefully evaluate the risks and benefits
of erythromycin in babies who are less than a month old.
“We suggest that physicians talk to parents about
the possible risk of pyloric stenosis that could occur and advise the parents
to watch for signs that the infant may be developing pyloric stenosis,”
Honein said.
Erythromycin is the recommended treatment for
newborns with whooping cough and is also used to prevent the disease when
infants may have been exposed to someone who has symptoms of the highly
contagious illness.
CDC
Backs Recommendation
“CDC does still recommend that erythromycin be used following exposure to a
known case of pertussis,” Honein said.
“In newborns, pertussis, or whooping cough, is a
very serious disease and can cause severe complications. About 72 percent of
kids less than six months old who get whooping cough are hospitalized for
it,” she said. 
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