it is also best known as rifadin

products containing  rifampin:
archidyn, ramp, rfamipicin, rifa, rifadin iv, rifadine, rifagen, rifaldazin, rifaldazine, rifaldin, rifampicin, rifampicin sv, rifamycin, rifamycin amp, rifaprodin, rifoldin, rifoldine, riforal, rimactan, rimactane, rimactin, rimazid, rofact, tubocin

rifampicin

whooping cough treatments

Here in Israel, whooping cough is a real disease. My 4-year-old daughter caught it -- and even though I was innoculated many years ago, I caught it, too. I've been told that there's nothing to do but to let it ride its course of 5 to 6 months, and if needed, to take codeine to control the cough. Is there anything else that I can do about it?

Immunization is the best way to prevent whooping cough. Once you have it, however, a 14-day course of an antibiotic called erythromycin should be given to the affected person and all of her contacts, regardless of their age or history of whooping cough vaccination.

Pertussis is highly contagious. It can be serious, and for infants, it can even be fatal. The disease initially resembles a cold with runny nose, but then progresses to severe coughing. This coughing typically comes in paroxysms, with a series of coughs ending in an inspiratory "whoop" as the affected person tries to catch her breath at the end of a paroxysm. The cough can last for weeks, although infants under 6 months of age seldom have the telltale "whoop."

Immunization for pertussis, or whooping cough, is very effective at reducing the incidence of the disease. And the antibiotic, although it doesn't alter the course of the illness once the patient has begun to cough, does reduce her infectiousness to others. The codeine cough suppressants you mention are used to relieve symptoms.

It's good that you want to treat your whooping cough properly: Adults who were immunized against it long ago, but whose immunity has waned, are sources of infection for unimmunized or incompletely immunized young infants and children. Pertussis is often misdiagnosed in adults as bronchitis and should be suspected in anyone with a cough that lasts longer than two weeks, particularly if it's a paroxysmal or spasmodic cough.

In the U.S., all cases of pertussis must be reported to the State Health Department. Thus, diagnosing pertussis and treating it appropriately helps public health officials to limit outbreaks of the infection. However, any child with wheezing, whether he's treated with albuterol or not, should be seen by a physician 10 to 14 days later to be sure that the wheezing has gone away.