Preserving Antibiotic Effectiveness

November 9, 2017 11:39 am Published by

By: Jennifer Madeo, D.O., Ph.D., Infectious Disease Physician at Magnolia Regional Health Center

Antibiotics are important life-saving drugs for people that have a bacterial infection. These drugs kill the bacteria responsible for the infection, and the patient feels better in a few days. These drugs can only be received using a prescription from a physician, because the diagnosis of a bacterial infection must be made by a trained healthcare provider.

The misuse of antibiotics has fueled the growth of “Super Bacteria”, which are bacteria that can continue to grow and cause infection despite being exposed to antibiotics.  This is important because infection with these bacteria usually require hospitalization with stronger and much more toxic antibiotics, in return setting yourself up for a higher risk for death. After the patient feels better, the super bacteria can still hide in their bodies, putting them at risk for another infection later. In addition, the super bacteria can spread to others in the community, affecting the most vulnerable people, including the elderly, children and people who have chronic pre-existing conditions.

To minimize the prevalence of these super bacteria in our community, Magnolia Regional Health Center is making efforts to use antibiotics wisely. This means only giving antibiotics to patients with bacterial infections and strictly for the minimal duration needed to kill the bacteria.

Patients can play an important role by not demanding antibiotics when doctors do not feel they are needed. It is also important to only take antibiotics prescribed to you. Do not take antibiotics prescribed to someone else or allow someone else to take your antibiotics. In addition, it is important to understand what to expect from an antibiotic. For example, if you take an antibiotic for pneumonia, you may continue coughing for several weeks after stopping therapy. This is usually not a persistent infection, but merely a reaction of your lungs to the infection, which will then have to be allowed to take its course.

In summary, by using antibiotics wisely, we can help preserve their effectiveness.  This is vital to protecting the health of our community.

This post was written by Magnolia Regional Health Center