Antibiotics use is as popular as ever with American people today. Every day over 190 million doses of antibiotics are administered in hospitals and more than 133 million antibiotic prescriptions are written out to non-hospitalized patients every year (4). These staggering numbers have made many skeptics question the effectiveness of these antibiotics and the frequency in which doctors prescribe them. Antibiotics are not a one stop cure for all illnesses.
In fact, antibiotics are only effective on living things; this includes bacteria, certain fungi, and specific parasites. Antibiotics have absolutely no effect on viruses, which are not living diseases (2). It is widely estimated that nearly half of the antibiotics prescribed are ineffective due to the fact they are prescribed for colds, coughs, and other viral infections (1). Most people, especially parents, expect for physicians to administer antibiotics whenever they or their children contract an illness. Antibiotics are thought to be fast acting and a guarantee cure.
While antibiotic use is substantially faster at curing symptoms of an illness, in order to be completely effective, its entire prescribed course must be completed. This is the main problem I see with the frequency of prescribed antibiotics. In order to cure a bacterial infection all of the bacteria must be killed, or else it continue to reside in a patient’s body and even build up immunities to the antibiotics (3). This process is what creates “superbugs”, bacterial strings of infectious diseases that are impervious to the current antibiotics used to treat them.
The truth is that one patient’s irresponsibility to fully complete his or her antibiotic-prescribed course can create a bacteria resistant to current antibiotics and in turn infect many more people with a bacteria that is much stronger than previously thought (1). This creation of “stronger” more resistant bacteria gives a strong case for the proponents of using less antibiotics and being wiser with its administration. We live in a society that has become enthralled with fast paced life.
We want faster technology, faster food, and certainly want to become healthier fast. Even though recent research has shown that many ENT infections, previously thought to be bacterial infections, actually host viruses, which antibiotics have no effect on (5). Society’s mindset of “faster is better” has made the production of antibiotics a multibillion dollar industry. Because of this mindset I think an added pressure has been placed upon doctors to cure the patient as fast as possible not necessarily the best way to cure all illnesses.
I feel that until individuals value their true health over their personal time the antibiotics use will continue to maintain these high levels. Antibiotics are obviously misused abundantly. When an antibiotic does not kill the entire infection it is targeting this would be considered a misuse of the drug. If we could eliminate the misuse of these drugs then I believe we can operate at the appropriate levels of prescribed antibiotics. In order for these misuses to be corrected there needs to be a change with both the doctor’s and patient’s ideas of antibiotics.
First the patient must have patience; he or she must not demand an immediate fix to the illness. Next, a doctor must properly test the illness and identify whether or not an antibiotic would be truly effective. This means identifying the illnesses’ origins, whether it is bacterial, fungal, parasitic, or viral and identifying the correct cure. Finally, if the patient is prescribed antibiotics, he or she must be responsible and complete the entire prescribed course of antibiotics. This will prevent the production of resistant “super bugs” and prevent the need for new antibiotics to be created.
In order for the supply of antibiotics to decrease the demand for it must first decrease, unless proper knowledge and effective practices are utilized this antibiotic problem will persist. 1) – http://www. acponline. org/patients_families/diseases_conditions/antibiotic_resistance/ 2) – http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/antibiotics/FL00075 3) – http://www. huffingtonpost. com/dr-cara-natterson/antibiotic-drugs_b_784324. htm l 4) – http://health. howstuffworks. com/medicine/medication/question88. htm 5) – http://www. medicalnewstoday. com/releases/56073. php.