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closeImpact on gut flora not considered here
Posted by markj on 01 Jun 2015 at 01:22 GMT
It would seem logical that a drug injected directly into the bloodstream would be more effective than one that has to go thru the digestive tract. Also, IV will have less impact on gut flora, which is an important consideration.
The oral route may be good at times, but not always.
RE: Impact on gut flora not considered here
pbejon replied to markj on 01 Jun 2015 at 13:47 GMT
Impacts on gut flora are certainly important - and in fact intravenous antibiotics are also risk factors for Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea and therefore not entirely innocent in this regard. The logic of intravenous treatment is interesting and perhaps not totally intuitive as discussed under "Why Is Intravenous Therapy Needed?". Randomized controlled trials can throw up surprises though, and while those we described in the article didn't show any superiority of intravenous therapy over oral therapy for the conditions tested we should remain open to the possibility that a future trial might demonstrate the superiority of oral therapy.