Antibiotic resistance is becoming a major concern these days. In general, antibiotics are prescribed to treat people suffering from a bacterial infection or illness. Every time we ingest an antibiotic, it starts doing its job by killing the healthy bacteria in our systems. This is where we are subjecting ourselves to antibiotic abuse. However, there are ways to counter antibiotic abuse, like drinking more water eating probiotics and more. But, this misuse of antibiotics also leads to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance means that there are drug resistant diseases because the disease-causing pathogens have developed a resistance to the antibiotics. The biggest burden in the world of modern medicine is to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis which experts believe is an outcome of antibiotic overuse by Indians.
It is not a good practice to have antibiotics without consulting a doctor, but this is where most of us go wrong. In India, it is way too common to reach for over-the-counter antibiotics when you have slightest signs of allergies due to climatic changes or a bout of viral fever. Here are four ways in which we are overusing antibiotics which we need to stop.
1. Taking antibiotics to treat viral infections
This is one mistake most parents do when they treat their child’s viral infections with antibiotics. Find out why exposure to antibiotics at an early age is bad for children. So treating your child’s cough, cold, fever, sinus or even ear infections with antibiotics is not a good idea. Most of the times these symptoms are triggered by a virus, which gets better within three or five days. But if the symptoms don’t settle after five days, it is better to go and consult a doctor to check if it is due to a bacterial infection. An expert point of view and expertise is needed to differentiate between a viral and bacterial infection. Antibiotics should only be prescribed when the symptoms or illness is triggered by a bacterial attack. Even adults who resort to antibiotics to treat a cough, cold or a sore throat are doing more harm than good.
2. Using a previously prescribed antibiotic
One common peril of self-medication is following old prescriptions. You might have similar symptoms and think that continuing with the previous medications will take care of your condition and you can save on the doctor’s consultation fees. But in the bargain, you are allowing your body to become resistant to antibiotics. If you were prescribed antibiotics before, know that your current symptoms might not be triggered by the same bacterial strain. It could be possible that your symptoms are due to a different strain of bacteria which needs a different set of antibiotics. The old ones aren’t going to help in this case. But your idea of self-medication is going to ruin you anyway as it is difficult to reverse antibiotic resistance.
3. Buying antibiotics over the counter
Antibiotics should never be given without a prescription, but our chemists hardly follow that rule and dole out the medications without asking you questions. If you simply take it without having your symptoms checked, do we need to tell you more about why it is dangerous?
4. Not disclosing the medicines you are taking to the doctor
At times, you might self-medicate with low dose antibiotics thinking it has worked in the past. But if you fail to inform your doctor about it because of shame or fear, you are making a big mistake. So, when your doctor diagnoses your condition and prescribes you antibiotics, there is an overload of the same in your system.
If we could use our common sense and stop overusing antibiotics we can do our bit in lessening the burden antibiotic resistance. If more Indians stop overusing antibiotics, we will hopefully have a better chance at ensuring that the new antibiotics to hit the market will actually eliminate the bacteria.
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