Let your antibiotic run its course
NOT DOING SO CAN LEAD TO INFECTION-CAUSING BACTERIA MUTATING AND BECOMING RESISTANT TO THAT MEDICINE, EXPERTS SAY
eeling better after a nasty virus may lead you to ditch the rest of your antibiotic prescription, unaware of the adverse effect you may be causing your body.
Antibiotics are medications that kill or slow down the growth of bacteria, and are prescribed for the treatment of infections caused by bacteria. They are often prescribed for pneumonia, whooping cough, urinary tract infections, and infected wounds.
While improvement symptoms are a positive indication the medicine prescribed is doing its job, it does not necessarily mean the infection is completely gone, said Dr Monalisa Panda, microbiologist at Thumbay Hospital.
“If an antibiotic course is stopped before it is completed, then the bacteria causing the infection may mutate to become resistant to that particular antibiotic,” explained Dr Panda.
A short and incomplete antibiotic course can “destroy the harmless protective bacteria that live in and on the body, allowing resistant bacteria to multiply and replace them,” she said.
If one has an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection, the individual may take longer to get well, may be more likely to have complications of the infection, and may be contagious. “An individual with a resistant bacterial infection would need a higher generation of antibiotic, which may have more side-effects on the body,” to treat the same infection he once caught but did not treat properly, said Dr Panda. However, while it’s important for patients to complete the course of antibiotics, it is equally required that doctors prescribe correct, and preferably short courses.
Dr Panda referred to emerging evidence showing that shorter courses of antibiotics may be just as effective as longer courses for some infections.
“Shorter treatments have great advantages — they are more likely to be completed properly, have fewer side effects and also likely to be cheaper. They also reduce the exposure of bacteria to antibiotics, thereby reducing the speed by which the pathogen develops resistance,” she added.
Complex chemicals
Similarly, Dr Fabrizio Facchini, Consultant Pulmonologist at Valiant Clinic, described antibiotics as “doctors’ weapon to kill bacteria,” pointing out that antibiotics, which are complex chemicals introduced to the body, can cause allergic reactions and at specific doses, can even poison the body.
“Antibiotics have been prescribed to kill specific bacteria causing the symptoms, however, they can kill any bacteria they are active on — if they are able to reach the right concentration at any specific tissue or organ of the body,” he said.
This implies that antibiotics are not active against resistant bacteria and can kill good bacteria too.
“This increases the risk of further nasty infections. So overall, antibiotics carry severe risks that should be weighed against the attended benefits,” said Dr Facchini.