The following article was written by Lisa Menard-Manlove MD, FAAFP, MHM. She is board-certified in Family Medicine.
Antibiotics are an amazing scientific discovery of the early 20th century, when Alexander Fleming accidently “discovered” penicillin. He put some bacteria on petri dishes to study, went away on vacation, and when he came back one of his petri dishes had been contaminated with a fungus. The bacteria did not grow around this fungus! After a lot of hard work, penicillin became available for use for illnesses that once were deadly or caused severe illness.
Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections. They do not work against viruses. When antibiotics were first developed, not everything was known about how they worked. We now know how they create an environment where bacteria will not grow. Kudos to science!
Some antibiotics work against a specific group of bacteria while others work against many bacteria. When your healthcare professional decides to use an antibiotic, they try to use an antibiotic specific to the infection you have. Using targeted antibiotics decreases the chance of antibiotic “resistance".
Many bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics over time. Bacteria can change when exposed to antibiotics. These changes allow future generations of bacteria to escape from the antibiotics! When there are bacteria that are resistant, stronger antibiotics need to be used. There are now bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics, making them difficult to treat and more dangerous, especially for the chronically ill, young children, and older adults.
What can you do about this? Talk to your health care professional about how to best treat your specific illness. Many common ailments such as colds and the flu are viral and antibiotics won’t help. Even some illnesses where antibiotics were commonly used are now known to be viral much of the time. Treating viral illnesses with symptom management – think old fashioned increasing your fluid intake, rest, and managing discomfort with Tylenol or ibuprofen (if you can take these) – will often see improvement in a few days. Of course, if you have questions, or your symptoms are severe or not improving, please call to either make an appointment or talk to someone about your symptoms.
At Wood River Health, our goal is to prevent illnesses when able and treat with appropriate medications when necessary. Good use of antibiotics is important to all of us! Vaccines can help with the prevention of many bacterial illnesses so make sure you are up to date!
Disclaimer
This article is not intended to treat, diagnose, or manage anyone’s physical or psychiatric health. This article is intended to create discussion, create community, and inform in a generalized sense. Please discuss your specific health and psychiatric concerns with your personalized team of professionals or emergency services if you feel this is appropriate.
