What is this antibiotic?

[JamieP]

I was given antibiotics by my doctor for a throat and chest infection but I forgot to ask exactly which one it was.

It's a yellow lozenge shaped pill with the letters "BD" embossed on it.

Any ideas?

[lopburi3]

Isn't the name marked on the packet? Expect you are talking about pills in a plastic bag but normally they do have a label of some kind attached to outside. This site has photos of all Thai drugs - registration is free and only takes a minute.

https://www.mims.com/Thailand/image/AdvancedSearch

[JamieP]

Only a small clinic . The bag has a hand-written label saying merely "antibiotic".

I'll try that link when I'm back on the computer

[fvw53]

Be careful : you should NOT take this BT without knowing what it is ...what is the quantity per pill (it could contain 1 g or 500 mg or 250 mg of the active element)...the period you must take it...otherwise you could become resistant to antibiotics

[JamieP]

Fvw53

I was given the antibiotic by a doctor whom I trust 100%.

[lopburi3]

Any medication should be discussed with patient and clearly marked - and possible side effects examined prior to usage. Am very concerned with your above statement. I have not had such luck/confidence using small clinics; so can only hope it is justified.

[NickJ]

If it was dispensed from a clinic for a sore throat its a good bet it was an anti biotic made in Thailand. The only concern is that you maybe were given a typical Thai dosage of three to five days. This is not what you would have been given in the

west where a treatment regime would be ten to twenty one days. depending on the illness.

An other concern is you saved some and now for another bout you want to take the same med. This is also wrong as i. the west you would be given a diffrent antibiotic on the nest infection.

Its a good idea in Thailand to write down what you take and when.

[JamieP]

I have not saved the antibiotic. I was at the client on Monday and am continuing to the full course, (however it's only 7 days). I'm not in the habit of taking random medicines and I'm not sure what I said to suggest that? ????

[JamieP]

The doctor concerned speaks flawless English and practised in England for several years.

[Sheryl]

If so then a simple call to the clinic should be able to ascertain the name of the medication.

[partington]

Be careful : you should NOT take this BT without knowing what it is ...what is the quantity per pill (it could contain 1 g or 500 mg or 250 mg of the active element)...the period you must take it...otherwise you could become resistant to antibiotics

This isn't right: you've misunderstand what antibiotic resistance is- it is never a person that gets resistant to antibiotics, it is the bacteria that get resistant.

If you have an infection and you take too small a dose of antibiotics, or do not take them for long enough, then you do not kill all the bacteria. Instead, you kill the ones most susceptible to the antibiotic, but if any have some resistance they are the ones that survive. So you have selected all the bacteria that have some resistance to the antibiotic.

This happens naturally anyway, but the frequency is hugely increased by people not taking a big enough dose for long enough to kill the maximum possible number of infecting bacteria. Once you have done this, selecting in your own body a population of resistant bacteria, you can spread them by just infecting another person.

When present in the same body bacteria can pass this resistance to different species of bacteria by transferring a small ring of DNA called a plasmid from one to the other. So a resistant population of not very dangerous respiratory infection bacteria, for example, could pass this resistance to a species of bacteria that causes a very much more serious disease, if both infect the same host at the same time.