FEATURES OF USE ANTIBIOTICS There are features of use antibiotics. Antibiotics are far from harmless, as do most other drugs. Should take antibiotics only when they are prescribed by a doctor (in the annotation to almost all antibiotics, you will find a warning: “dispensed by prescription”). Why? Firs, nobody can independently establish the exact diagnosis of his illness, especially when it comes to infectious diseases. Even if the diagnosis is established, only a doctor can determine what kind of antibiotic, in what dosages, and for what duration should use it. And one not unimportant point: before you will be assigned one or another antibiotic, the physician should refer you to a laboratory to determine the sensitivity of your organism to a number of medicines used for treatment. Depending on the reaction to the drugs, he writes a suitable antibiotic for you, namely the one to which your organism has issued the maximum response. Secondly, self-medication with antibiotics leads to the result, counter-productive: you are still sick, but to the doctor becomes more difficult to determine what it is, because the background of antibiotics the disease can be “wiped off” symptoms. In a number of diseases antibiotics contraindicated, for example, in severe hepatic and renal failure, asthma, hay fever, diabetes and diseases of the hematopoietic system. Moreover, few people know that not only useless but also harmful to use them for colds, flu, high temperature or intestinal disorders. Antibiotics are effective only for those diseases which are caused by bacteria. In viruses, these drugs do not work. Also, antibiotics do not possess anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic properties. Many antibiotics are contraindicated for children under 15 years, as well as women during pregnancy and lactation. Antibiotic’s side effects may include: suppression of the flora of the gastrointestinal tract and the weakening of immunity. To avoid this, while taking antibiotics prescribed vitamins and medications to increase the immunity. It is important not to interrupt the course of antibiotics: if the doctor has ordered you to take on the tablet 3 times daily after meals for 5 days, and you’d like, even if you feel considerable improvement on the third day. Only a full course of treatment may lead to recovery. If the course has been interrupted or taken smaller doses, may develop resistance of the microorganism to the drug and the disease enters the chronic form, and then the treatment will have to begin anew. Do not take antibiotics with expired! Such products do not possess the necessary efficiency to combat the disease, and in addition, can cause enormous harm to your body. Also – great risk of side effects.
Fighting Antibiotic Resistance with Antibiotic Stewardship Antibiotics can be miracle drugs but they also have risks. Poor prescribing and use practices are putting patients at unnecessary risk for preventable allergic reactions, super-resistant infections, and C.difficile infections (deadly diarrhea). Antibiotics can fight infections and save lives when used at the right place, at the right time, and for the right duration. However, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in our
country is contributing to antibiotic resistance—when bacteria stop responding to the drugs designed to kill them. More and more bacteria are becoming resistant to the antibiotics that remain in our arsenal. Every year, more than two million people in the U.S. get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a result. If drug-resistant germs keep growing and if we lose the effectiveness of antibiotics, we may also lose our ability to treat patients with sepsis, cancer, and organ transplants, and save victims of burns and trauma. Unfortunately, developing new antibiotic drugs could help but not save us from this fate because resistant germs evolve faster than we are able to develop drugs to treat them. We’re going to have to change how we use the antibiotics we already have. One way CDC is combating resistance is by supporting antibiotic stewardship programs across the nation to make sure that antibiotics are prescribed and used appropriately.
Viruses or Bacteria? What’s got you sick? Antibiotic stewardship does not mean stopping the use of antibiotics; it means using antibiotics when necessary and appropriate. Stewardship programs will help us change the way antibiotics are prescribed and used today. CDC finds that between a third and a half of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are either unnecessary or the antibiotic does not match the germ. Antibiotics are not needed, for example, for colds, most sore throats, and many sinus infections. (See CDC’s infographic on “Examples of When Antibiotics are Urgent and Necessary[2.39 MB]for more information about when antibiotics are needed.) Stewardship programs can reduce antibiotic resistance and healthcare costs, and increase good patient outcomes. For example, reducing the use of high-risk antibiotics by 30% in hospitals can lower C.difficile (deadly diarrhea) infections by 26%. We all have a role to play: by committing today to stewardship and other infection control principles, like proper hand hygiene, we protect the effectiveness of antibiotics in the future.
CDC, the White House, and Other Leaders are Fighting Resistance Together On Tuesday, June 2, leaders from human and animal health organizations across the country are joining together at the White House to discuss how they can support antibiotic stewardship. Leaders are joining forces to improve antibiotic prescribing and use because they realize that antibiotic resistance and the use of antibiotics does not just affect the individual, but the future of our whole community. As these leaders share their commitments, you can take part in preventing resistance, too. For more information visit us our website: http://www.healthinfi.com