Antibiotics, macrolide

Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria that cause infection.

Macrolide antibiotics are a particular type of antibiotic used to treat, and sometimes prevent, a wide variety of bacterial infections (see Macrolide antibiotics - uses for more information).

How they work

Macrolide antibiotics stop bacteria multiplying by preventing them from being able to produce proteins that are essential for their growth. The bacteria eventually die or are killed by your immune system.

Names

Macrolide antibiotics are:

• azithromycin (brand name Zithromax),
• clarithromycin (brand names Klaricid and Klaricid XL),
• erythromycin (brand names Erymax, Erythrocin, Erythroped and Erythroped A),
• spiramycin (no brand), and
• telithromycin (brand name Ketek).

Finishing the course

It is essential that you finish taking your course of antibiotics even if you feel better, unless your GP tells you otherwise.

If you stop taking an antibiotic part way through a course, the bacteria can become resistant to the antibiotic. The infection could then be harder to treat in future.