How much and how often should you use the product?
Take azithromycin exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Follow all directions on your prescription label. Do not take this medicine in larger or smaller amounts or for longer than recommended. The dose and length of treatment may not be the same for every type of infection.
You may take most forms of azithromycin with or without food.
Use this medicine for the full prescribed length of time. Your symptoms may improve before the infection is completely cleared. If this happens, keep taking the medicine as prescribed. Skipping doses may also increase your risk of further infection that is resistant to antibiotics. Azithromycin will not treat a viral infection such as the flu or a common cold.
Mechanism of action:
In order to replicate, bacteria require a specific process of protein synthesis, enabled by ribosomal proteins. Azithromycin binds to the 23S rRNA of the bacterial 50S ribosomal subunit. It stops bacterial protein synthesis by inhibiting the transpeptidation/translocation step of protein synthesis and by inhibiting the assembly of the 50S ribosomal subunit. This results in the control of various bacterial infections. The strong affinity of macrolides, including azithromycin, for bacterial ribosomes, is consistent with their broad‐spectrum antibacterial activities.
Azithromycin is highly stable at a low pH, giving it a longer serum half-life and increasing its concentrations in tissues compared to erythromycin.