Ogugua Belonwu Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria. Bacteria can cause infections such as sore throat, ear infections, urinary tract infections and sinus infections (sinusitis).
There are many types of antibiotics. Each works a little differently and acts on different types of bacteria. Your doctor will decide which antibiotic will work best for your infection.
It is important to learn how to take antibiotics correctly. Read the label to see how many pills to take and how often to take your medicine. Also, ask your pharmacist if there is anything you should know about the medication.
An important question to ask is how the medication should be taken. Some medications need to be taken with something in your stomach such as a glass of milk or a few crackers, and others only with water. Taking your antibiotics incorrectly may affect their absorption, reducing or eliminating their effectiveness.
It is also important to store your medication correctly. Many children's antibiotics need to be refrigerated (amoxicillin), while others are best left at room temperature (Biaxin).
Take your entire course of antibiotics. Even though you may feel better before your medicine is entirely gone, follow through and take the entire course. This is important for your healing. If an antibiotic is stopped in midcourse, the bacteria may be partially treated and not completely killed, causing the bacteria to be resistant to the antibiotic. This can cause a serious problem if those now-resistant bacteria grow enough to cause a reinfection.
Some people are allergic to certain types of antibiotics, most commonly penicillin. If you have a question about a potential allergy, ask your doctor or pharmacist before taking the medicine.
Allergic reactions commonly have the following symptoms:
Antibiotic Resistance
One of the foremost concerns in modern medicine is antibiotic resistance. Simply put, if an antibiotic is used long enough, bacteria will emerge that cannot be killed by that antibiotic. This is known as antibiotic resistance. Infections exist today that are caused by bacteria resistant to some antibiotics. The existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria creates the danger of life-threatening infections that don't respond to antibiotics.
There are several reasons for the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. One of the most important is antibiotic overuse. This includes the common practice of prescribing antibiotics for the common cold or flu. Even though antibiotics do not affect viruses, many people expect to get a prescription for antibiotics when they visit their doctor. Although the common cold is uncomfortable, antibiotics do not cure it, nor change its course. Each person can help reduce the development of resistant bacteria by not asking for antibiotics for a common cold or flu.
In conclusion,
If you take antibiotics when you do not need them, they may not work when you do need them. Each time you take antibiotics, you are more likely to have some bacteria that the medicine does not kill. These bacteria can change (mutate) so they are harder to kill. Then, the antibiotics that used to kill them no longer work. These bacteria are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
These tougher bacteria can cause longer and more serious infections. To treat them you may need different, stronger antibiotics that have more side effects than the first medicine and may cost more.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria also can spread to family members, children, and fellow workers. Your community then will have a risk of getting an infection that is harder to cure and costs more to treat. Some antibiotics that doctors prescribed in the past to treat common infections no longer work.
Taking antibiotics you do not need will not help you feel better, cure your illness, or keep others from catching your infection.
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