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Treatment - Therapy and Children

Ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones are linked to permanent and transient arthropathy in adolescent animals and children and therefore should not be used in children younger than 18 years old. Penicillin should be substituted for fluoroquinolone. The risk of arthropathy, however, may have to be taken if an antibiotic resistant strain is responsible for the anthrax. Doxycycline is not recommended for use in children younger than 9 because it may result in retarded skeletal growth and discoloration of teeth in young children. Again the serious risk of infection by a resistant strain may outweigh the consequences of the drug use (6).