Antibiotics abuse poses threat to future generations

Did you know that improper use of antibiotics can have negative effect on your health? Did you know that antibiotics cannot be used to treat cold or flu?

Antibiotics are sometimes called antimicrobial agents. It is a medication that kills bacteria or stops their growth. Antibiotics are supposed to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia or blood infection. Unfortunately, they do not treat viral diseases such as cold or flu. Medications that effectively combat viruses are called anti-viral medications. They are supposed to treat influenza, HIV and herpes.

Antibiotics are considered to be medicine that cures everything. Actually since their discovery they are considered to be miraculous. At first they were used to treat bacterial infections and later people started using them to treat all diseases. However, you should beware that you can damage certain organs by taking antibiotics too often. Inappropriate use of antibiotics accelerates development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, antibiotic-sensitive bacteria are killed and antibiotic-resistant bacteria keep growing and multiplying. These resistant bacteria can spread and cause infections even for those people who do not use antibiotics. So antimicrobial resistance is a public health problem and the main reason of that is irrational use of antibiotics.

Antibiotics can only treat infections of bacterial origin but not virus induced diseases. Remember that antibiotics do not work for illnesses like cold or flu and they do not reduce fever. One of the reasons why people take antibiotics when they get cold is a misconception that treating viral infections with antibiotics will prevent bacterial infection. However, taking antibiotics with no reason may lead to antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections or complications of a disease.

Rational use of antibiotics should be public concern and responsibility. If we use them responsibly we will protect ourselves and future generations.

 

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