Amoxicillin antibiotic shortage has parents panicking in the US

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After Erica Porell's daughter came down with a 102-degree fever last week alongside a double ear infection, her mother took her to the family pediatrician expecting her to be prescribed amoxicillin, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections.

Porell sensed something was wrong when the pediatrician didn't call her back and instead received a call from her husband that the antibiotic wasn't available anywhere.

“Usually they call it in right away, but it wasn’t there,” Porell said. “My husband was trying to pick it up.” She added that the pediatrician "had to look for an alternative,”

A shortage of the medicine was reported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently and named an increased demand for the antibiotic as the main reason. While the antibiotic is listed as a "first-line" therapy for most pediatric bacterial infections, alternatives can be option although the shortage is rare.

“It’s really necessary to have that [antibiotic], so it’s kind of scary for parents,” Porell said. “[My children] go to elementary school … you can’t keep them in the house and shelter them from the world.”

This comes as children’s hospitals across the US are witnessing a resurgence in respiratory illnesses, which according to Dr. Rishi Lulla of Rhode Island’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital, is expected as children during the pandemic were not exposed to these viruses. 

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“What we’re seeing now is the impact of having decreased immunity over the last couple of years,” Lulla commented.

Antibiotics cannot treat viral infections but Nexstar’s KOIN was told by medical experts in Oregon that doctors are prescribing them for children with viral infections, since they would make their immune systems more susceptible to bacterial infections.

CVS Health is working with drug manufacturers to replenish the supply of the antibiotic as soon as possible.