Antibiotics may prevent strokes

Antibiotics are usually prescribed for infections, but new research suggests that these drugs, especially penicillin, may also protect against strokes.Strokes often occur when cholesterol plaques in blood vessels rupture and block blood flow to the brain. Recent reports have shown that these plagues can contain bacteria. Some researchers believe that the presence of these bugs makes plaque rupture more likely. This is where antibiotics come in. If an antibiotic can kill these bacteria, the plaque might become more stable and less likely to cause a stroke.To study the link between antibiotics and stroke, researchers from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, compared antibiotic use between 1,888 stroke patients and 9,440 similar people who did not experience a stroke.

They found that people who used antibiotics within the previous year were about 20 percent less likely to have a stroke than people who did not. Although several kinds of antibiotics seemed to lower the stroke risk, penicillins, such as amoxycillin and ampicillin, had the most pronounced effect. Current penicillin users were 47 percent less likely to experience a stroke than non-users. Past penicillin use was also tied to a reduced stroke risk, but the benefit was not as strong as with current use. Other studies are underway to see if antibiotics can prevent problems like stroke in heart attack patients. If these go well, perhaps the stroke-preventing ability of antibiotics will be tested in people without any heart or blood vessel problems.