Because viruses do not react to antibiotics, don’t ask for or expect antibiotics from your doctor.
Antibiotics resistance is one of the great challenges of public health today
By Dr. Paul Martiquet
The discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s heralded a new age for people’s health. This amazing new treatment could cure illness and even prevent deaths.
Indeed, this was a great time for public health.
Millions of lives have been saved by antibiotics, but what if they did not work any longer? What would we do? Unfortunately, we are coming face to face with that problem as various ‘bugs’ become resistant to our antibiotics.
Antibiotics work against bacteria
There are risks to misusing antibiotics, the most serious of which is helping bacteria to develop resistance to the drugs.
Antibiotics kill or overcome bacteria (remember that: bacteria), and different types, or classes, of antibiotics work in different ways against different bacteria. The one sure thing is that they do not work against viruses. Antibiotics are useful against some ear or sinus infections and strep throat. Why? You guessed it, all are caused by bacteria.
Viruses, on the other hand, do not respond to antibiotics. While responsible for illnesses like coughs, sore throats, most ear infections and the common cold, all are virus-caused and none will respond to antibiotics. In other words, being sick does not automatically mean you need antibiotics.
What are the risks to misusing antibiotics?
There are risks to misusing antibiotics, the most serious of which is helping bacteria to develop resistance to the drugs meant to fight them so they no longer work as they were designed. Because bacteria reproduce very quickly, once a bug is resistant that ‘ability’ gets passed to others quickly.
Over time, bacteria can change and become completely resistant to a whole class of antibiotics. Once resistance has been reached, defeating the ‘resistant’ bug means having to use more and more powerful antibiotics.
Antibiotic resistance has developed due to a variety of reasons. It comes from improper prescribing and use, being added to animal feed and other products, and improper hygiene. Taken together, all of these practices have led to an increasing speed of resistance as bacteria have become resistant to newer and newer drugs.
It used to be that a new antibiotic was effective for many years; that period has shortened considerably. One example of this resistance is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. This is one type of “staph” infection that is resistant to most antibiotics. It has become a so-called ‘super-bug’ that is very difficult to cure. There are even more resistant bacteria, and new antibiotics are coming along more slowly.
How can we slow antibiotic resistance?
While the situation is very concerning, there are some things we can do to slow antibiotic resistance. We can start by buying meat, milk and eggs that come from farms where antibiotics are not used to grow animals bigger. Treating animals with antibiotics is fine, just don’t add it to their feed.
Because viruses do not react to antibiotics, don’t ask for or expect antibiotics from your doctor. They won’t do any good and may well do harm, especially in the long-term. Also, avoid products like soaps that announce they are ‘antibacterial’ — regular soap will do the job just as well.
And perhaps most of all, if you are prescribed an antibiotic, take the whole prescription. Don’t stop because you feel better as there will probably be bacteria remaining and they can develop a resistance
Staying healthy is the best way to avoid needing antibiotics in the first place, and washing hands is a great way to keep from passing on the ‘bugs.’
Dr. Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for Rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
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