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Urinary tract infection - children - Management
What issues should I consider before prescribing cefalexin?
- Cefalexin is available as an sugar-free oral suspension (125 or 250 mg/5 mL), capsules, or tablets (both 250 or 500 mg), and is licensed from the age of 1 month onwards.
- Cefalexin can be used safely in most children:
- If the child has had a documented allergic reaction to penicillin, consider using another antibiotic belonging to a different class, as about 8% of penicillin-allergic people exhibit cross-reactivity to cephalosporins [DTB, 1996]. However, gastrointestinal adverse effects alone (e.g. nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea) do not constitute an allergy to penicillin.
- There are no known clinically significant drug interactions with cefalexin.
[ABPI Medicines Compendium, 2005; BNF 54, 2007].
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