Correspondence
Obtaining Antibiotics without a Prescription
N Engl J Med 2002; 347:223July 18, 2002
- Article
To the Editor:
I recently treated an Army Special Forces soldier who presented with a three-month history of purulent sinusitis that was not responding to self-medication. After much prodding, he related that he had been taking a combination of penicillin and sulfa antibiotics, which he had purchased without a prescription “in the fish medication aisle” of a local pet store. He went on to explain that this over-the-counter source of antibiotics is common knowledge among all branches of the American Special Forces community.
Out of curiosity, I followed up on our conversation by visiting two pet superstores (both of which offer the same products on their Web sites) and found the following selection of antibiotics available for purchase: erythromycin in 200-mg tablets; kanamycin in 150-mg capsules; penicillin in 250-mg tablets; ampicillin in 250-mg capsules; tetracycline in 250-mg tablets or capsules; minocycline in 10-mg tablets; triple sulfa-combination capsules containing 84 mg of sulfamethazine, 84 mg of sulfacetamide, and 332 mg of sulfathiazole; urinary antiseptic combination capsules containing 60 mg of nitrofurazone and 25 mg of furazolidone; and metronidazole in 250-mg capsules. This is only a partial list of the broad range of antibiotics that are available without a prescription at pet stores. Since these medications are not regulated for use in humans, there are no guarantees as to their quality or potency.
Brandon J. Goff, D.O.
Jonathan M. Koff, M.D.
James A. Geiling, M.D.
Pentagon Clinic, Washington, DC 20310
brandon.goff@na. amedd. army. mil - Citing Articles (1)
Citing Articles
1
Iruka N Okeke, Keith P Klugman, Zulfiqar A Bhutta, Adriano G Duse, Philip Jenkins, Thomas F O'Brien, Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Ramanan Laxminarayan. (2005) Antimicrobial resistance in developing countries. Part II: strategies for containment. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 5:9, 568-580
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