Come see us at one of our office locations! Map

Downtown / Main Office
25 Michigan Street NE, Suite 3300
Grand Rapids, MI 49503-2515
CONSTRUCTION Apr. 12 – Aug. 2010
Please see our detour map

Allegan Medical Clinic
511 Linn Street
Allegan, MI 49010-1524

Cascade - CT Imaging Center
4070 Lake Drive, Suite L101
Grand Rapids, MI 49546-8294

Greenville United Memorial Clinic
705 S. Greenville West Drive, Suite 202
Greenville, MI 48838-3556

Metro Health Village
2093 Health Drive, Ste 202
Wyoming, MI 49519

One of the most frequently asked question of parents when their child is placed on a daily antibiotic for prophylaxis, is won't my child become immune to the antibiotic? The short answer to this question is no.

In our practice, when a child is placed on antibiotics, it is usually to prevent urinary tract infections. These prophylactic antibiotics are half the dose of antibiotics prescribed to treat an infection. Unfortunately, children with risk factors for infection still may get an infection while on the antibiotic. This does not mean that the medicine is not working. It actually means the opposite; the medication is working.

When we send out urine for a culture, the lab smears a small specimen of the urine onto a special dish and watches for bacterial growth over 48 hours. At that forty-eight hour mark, the lab technician tests antibiotics on the bacteria that grew to see if it would kill it. This is how we know that certain antibiotics work on certain infections, but not all antibiotics are good for every infection. When a child is diagnosed with an infection and is on antibiotics, it means that the bacteria that grew is resistant (or immune) to that particular antibiotic. The child is not immune to the antibiotic the bacteria is.