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Weeping Eczema. Prescribed Clarithromycin. Is This Medication Safe In Pregnancy?

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Posted on Wed, 3 Oct 2012
Question: I have been prescribed Clarithromycin 500g twice daily for 7 days for a moderate case of weeping eczema. I have taken one tablet. I am 15 weeks pregnant. Should i refrain from taking the course due to my pregnancy. Will 500g that i have taken already harm my baby?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Sree Gouri SR (1 hour later)
hi XXXXXXX,
thanks for the query.

Clarithromycin is a semi synthetic antibiotic belonging to macrolide class.
It is considered as category C drug in pregnancy.
Means animal studies showed teratogenic effects on fetus but human studies are lacking.

In some available small numbers of studies the babies of the women taken clarithromycin showed birth defects like cystic head, craniofacial anomalies etc, but these studies didn’t proved exact correlation between drug and birth defects.

So as you have taken only one tablet and your are in second trimester there may not be much risk,
you discuss once with your doctor regarding continuation of tablets if he says that benefits over-weigh the risks then you can continue them.

But follow the growth of the fetus with regular antenatal checkups and ultrasound examinations to detect any anomaly( if at all occurs) at the earliest possible time then depending on that management can be done


Hope I have answered your query. I will be available to answer your follow up queries. If you are satisfied with all my answer, please rate the answer after closing the discussion.
take care.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Sree Gouri SR

OBGYN

Practicing since :2006

Answered : 5839 Questions

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Weeping Eczema. Prescribed Clarithromycin. Is This Medication Safe In Pregnancy?

hi XXXXXXX,
thanks for the query.

Clarithromycin is a semi synthetic antibiotic belonging to macrolide class.
It is considered as category C drug in pregnancy.
Means animal studies showed teratogenic effects on fetus but human studies are lacking.

In some available small numbers of studies the babies of the women taken clarithromycin showed birth defects like cystic head, craniofacial anomalies etc, but these studies didn’t proved exact correlation between drug and birth defects.

So as you have taken only one tablet and your are in second trimester there may not be much risk,
you discuss once with your doctor regarding continuation of tablets if he says that benefits over-weigh the risks then you can continue them.

But follow the growth of the fetus with regular antenatal checkups and ultrasound examinations to detect any anomaly( if at all occurs) at the earliest possible time then depending on that management can be done


Hope I have answered your query. I will be available to answer your follow up queries. If you are satisfied with all my answer, please rate the answer after closing the discussion.
take care.