How to Cure Asthma Bacteria

For some people with asthma--a condition marked by continuous or paroxysmal labored breathing and intense coughin-treatment with antibiotics is effective and appropriate to eradicate chronic bacterial infection. Gathering mucous from the lungs is the best way to confirm the presence of infection in asthmatics. Doctors aren't sure if a bacterial infection can produce asthma or simply make existing asthma worse.

Instructions

• 1

  See your doctor to confirm the presence of asthma, with or without infection. If your doctor suspects chronic infection, such as mycoplasma or chlamydia, ask for antibiotics that have proven effective in eliminating these infections. Although chlamydia is usually thought of as causing a sexually transmitted disease, the bacterium also thrives on the moist inner layer of the lungs. Mycoplasma is a new type of bacterium without a cell wall that is resistant to many antibiotics.

• 2

  Ask your doctor to continue a course of treatment with traditional methods, such as the bronchodilator. The combination of antibiotics and traditional treatments have worked well in treating pulmonary infection.

  Although asthmatics with confirmed infections have responded well to antibiotics, there is concern about overuse of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

• 3

  If your doctor is unsure about using a combined treatment, refer her to a retrospective study of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drug use by a cohort of asthmatics, which was reported in the November 2001 edition of the journal Chest. This study showed improvement in those who use used more anti-inflammatory drugs along with more antibiotics.

• 4

  The antibiotic azithromyhcin has proven effective in treating asthmatic infections; ask your doctor about using that type of drug. Research is ongoing.