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FWIW, here's the abstract from the New England Journal of Medicine. Erythromycin is prescribed most often when there is a suspected or confirmed allergy to penicillin or antibiotics related to penicillin, or the organism suspected or confirmed for the diagnosis is not affected by penicillin's mechanism of action, i.e. the cell wall synthesis of the organism is inhibited. There are some types of bacteria that don't have a cell wall, just a membrane.

Erythromycin, Biaxin(clarithromycin), Zithromax(azithromycin), Ketek(telithromycin), and Dynabac(dirithromycin) are members of the macrolide class of antibiotics which work by inhibiting the synthesis of bacterial ribosomes.

They can cause drug - drug interactions and adverse reactions such as sudden cardiac death becuase they are preferentially metabolized by the cytochrome P-450 3A (CYP3A) isozymes, i.e. class of enzymes, such that other drugs accumulate to toxic levels and induce fatal disturbances to the electro-chemically controlled heart rhythm.

If you can join the Vietnam Veterans in Washington DC this Sunday from 2 - 4 PM at Upper Senate Park next to the U.S. Capitol Building, please join us in telling Kerry what we think of him. FRiends are especially welcome.