It turns out that antibiotics are not effective in treating most lower respiratory tract infections and do not affect the severity or duration of cough. Here are the details...
Researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and the University of Wisconsin in the USA conducted a study on people who applied to primary care or emergency healthcare units for lower respiratory tract infections in the USA.
"THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PATIENTS USING ANTIBIOTICS AND PATIENTS WHO DO NOT"
Researchers found that in these patients, 29 percent of whom were prescribed appropriate antibiotics used in the treatment of bacterial infections, antibiotics did not affect the severity or duration of their cough, and in this sense, there was no difference between them and patients who were not prescribed antibiotics.
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Researchers who performed pathogen screening in microbiological laboratory tests to determine the infection divided the results into 4 classes: those containing only bacteria, only viruses, those containing both bacteria and viruses, and those containing no organisms. The recovery time in people with confirmed bacterial infection was the same for those who took antibiotics and those who did not, that is, 17 days.
IS EXCESSIVE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS HARMFUL?
Dan Merenstein, one of the researchers, stated that upper respiratory tract infections include colds, pharyngitis, sinus or ear infections, and that there are well-established ways to determine whether antibiotics should be prescribed. On the other hand, Dan Merenstein stated that lower respiratory tract infections have the potential to be more dangerous, and pneumonia is seen in 3 to 5 percent of these patients, and noted that since access to x-rays is not easy in primary health care units, physicians can prescribe antibiotics without evidence of bacterial infection.
Dan Merenstein said , "In addition, patients have come to expect antibiotics for cough, even if they do not help. Basic symptom-relieving medications and time solve infections in most people." The research article was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS OF USING ANTIBIOTIC?
According to the news in KRT, excessive use of antibiotics can cause dizziness, nausea, diarrhea and rash, as well as anaphylaxis, a life-threatening serious allergic reaction, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare disorder of the skin and mucosa, and clostridioides difficile. It can cause severe negative effects, such as diarrhea, at a rate of approximately 4 percent.
According to the declaration published by the World Health Organization on April 4, 2024, uncontrolled antimicrobial resistance caused by the overuse of antibiotics is expected to shorten the average life expectancy and lead to unprecedented health expenses and economic losses.
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