Drug Database: Amoxicillin

What is amoxicillin?

Amoxicillin is an antibacterial prescription medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of certain bacterial infections, such as community-acquired pneumonia; infections of the ear, nose and throat; infections of the genitourinary tract and infections of the skin and respiratory tract.

Community-acquired pneumonia, a bacterial respiratory disease, can be an opportunistic infection (OI) of HIV. An OI is an infection that occurs more frequently or is more severe in people with weakened immune systems—such as people with HIV—than in people with healthy immune systems. To learn more about OIs, read the HIVinfo What is an Opportunistic Infection? fact sheet.

How is amoxicillin used in people with HIV?

The Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV and the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Children with and Exposed to HIV include recommendations on the uses of amoxicillin to treat community acquired pneumonia and certain bacterial infections.

The recommended uses may not always be consistent with the FDA-approved uses of amoxicillin. See the Adult and Pediatric Guidelines for complete information on recommended uses of amoxicillin in adults and adolescents as well as children with and exposed to HIV. Amoxicillin may have other recommended uses not listed above.

What should I tell my health care provider before taking amoxicillin?

Before taking amoxicillin, tell your health care provider:

• If you are allergic to amoxicillin or any other medicines.
• About any medical conditions you have or have had, including kidney or liver problems.
• About anything that could affect your ability to take medicines, such as difficulty swallowing or remembering to take pills.
• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Talk to your health care provider about the risks and benefits of taking amoxicillin during pregnancy.
• If you are breast/chestfeeding or plan to breast/chestfeed. For people with HIV in the United States, the Guideline recommends speaking with your health care provider to discuss options for feeding your baby. People with suppressed viral load have a less than 1% chance of transmitting HIV to their baby via their own milk.
• About other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Amoxicillin may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how amoxicillin works. Ask your health care provider if there are interactions between amoxicillin and the other medicines you take.

Ask your health care provider about possible side effects from amoxicillin. Your health care provider will tell you what to do if you have side effects.

How should I take amoxicillin?

Take amoxicillin according to your health care provider’s instructions. Your health care provider will tell you how much amoxicillin to take and when to take it. Before you start amoxicillin and each time you get a refill, read any printed information that comes with your medicine.

How should amoxicillin be stored?

• Store amoxicillin tablets, capsules and powder for oral suspension at room temperature, 68°F to 77°F (20°C to 25°C).
• Do not use amoxicillin if the original seal over the container opening is broken or missing.
• Throw away amoxicillin that is no longer needed or expired (out of date). Follow FDA guidelines on how to safely dispose of unused medicine.
• Keep amoxicillin and all medicines out of reach of children.

Where can I find more information about amoxicillin?

• Recommendations on the HIV-related uses of amoxicillin, from the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV and the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Children with and Exposed to HIV.
• This Patient Version drug summary is based on the following FDA label: Tablet (film coated), powder (for suspension), tablet (chewable), capsule. The Patient Counseling Information section of the label includes information for people taking amoxicillin.
• The American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Patient Medication Information for amoxicillin available from MedlinePlus.
• Amoxicillin-related research studies, from ClinicalTrials.gov. (The ClinicalTrials.gov search can be modified so that you can get results that better match your interests. To learn more about the ClinicalTrials.gov search features, please see How to Search.)