Pyloric stenosis is much more common in boys than girls. Surgical treatment of pyloric stenosis is safe and effective. The rate of pyloric stenosis among babies born at this hospital in February 1999 was nearly seven times higher than among babies born there during the previous 2 years. The seven babies in this investigation who took erythromycin and got pyloric stenosis were less than 3 weeks old when they began taking erythromycin. All seven babies in this investigation who had pyloric stenosis were surgically treated and have recovered.
Gastrointestinal symptoms occur frequently in babies taking erythromycin.
Oral erythromycin is the recommended treatment for newborns with whooping cough or chlamydia infections, and is used to prevent whooping cough in newborns who are exposed to persons with whooping cough. However, it is important to only give preventive treatment to newborns who have been exposed to a person with whooping cough symptoms. The reported incidence of whooping cough in babies less than one year old is 50 per 100,000.