Combination therapy for the treatment of bacterial infections

#Antibiotics were introduced into medical practice nearly 50 years ago. Antibiotics have been used to control many life-threatening diseases, to reduce death and illness, and to increase the life expectancy of the population. However, the benefits of antibiotics have not been gained without the introduction of some associated problems.

#Antibiotics are commonly administered to treat bacterial infections by, for example, injection, oral administration, or application to the skin in ointment form. Many antibiotics are potent anti-infective agents, but also cause toxic side effects. For example, penicillin is highly allergenic and can cause skin rashes, shock, and other allergic responses. Tetracyclines are capable of causing major changes in the intestinal bacterial population and can result in superinfection by fungi and other microorganisms. Chloramphenicol is known to produce severe blood diseases, which has led to restrictions in its use. Streptomycin can result in ear and kidney damage. Moreover, many antibiotics have lost their effectiveness against some bacterial diseases and, as a result, some illnesses that were once easily treatable now pose treatment problems for physicians and their patients.

#Because of these problems with known antibiotics, the medical community is continually searching for and developing new approaches for treating bacterial infections. Such approaches include, for example, the development of new classes of antibiotics and improved methods of administering known antibiotics. Specifically, there is a need in the medical arts for methods to treat bacterial infections in mammals by administering sufficient amounts of potent antibiotics while minimizing undesirable side effects.

#A pharmaceutically effective amount of linezolid and a pharmaceutically effective amount of celecoxib is administered to a mammal to treat or prevent a bacterial infection. The combination therapy results in reduced side effects resulting from the administration of the antibiotic.

#A pharmaceutically effective amount of linezolid and a pharmaceutically effective amount of rofecoxib is administered to a mammal to treat or prevent a bacterial infection. The combination therapy results in reduced side effects resulting from the administration of the antibiotic.

#The complete disclosure of all patents, patent applications, and publications, and electronically available material (e.g., GenBank amino acid and nucleotide sequence submissions) cited herein are incorporated by reference. The foregoing detailed description and examples have been given for clarity of understanding only. No unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom. The invention is not limited to the exact details shown and described, for variations obvious to one skilled in the art will be included within the invention defined by the claims.