It is important! What are antibiotics used for? Can I take antibiotics for prevention, with acute respiratory viral infections, flu? How should i take antibiotics? How do antibiotics affect the intestinal microflora and what to do in this case?

Antibiotics (antimicrobials) – drugs that inhibit the growth or kill microbes, especially bacteria and protozoa.

Antibiotics do not act on viruses, with the exception of tetracyclines, which can affect large viruses. Therefore, antibiotics are useless in the treatment of colds, SARS, influenza, chickenpox, herpes, and other viral diseases.

Also, for example, bronchitis in 99% of cases is of a viral nature (i.e. viruses are causative agents). Antibiotics here are useless and harmful. Most diseases of ENT organs (sore throat, pharyngitis, laryngitis, rhinitis, etc.) are caused by viruses. To use antibiotics in these cases is also useless and harmful.

In very rare cases, a sore throat (sore throat) may be associated with a bacterium (streptococcus). To identify streptococcus there is a convenient, sold in pharmacies, with which you can determine the presence of streptococcus within 5 minutes.

Important: Only a doctor should prescribe antibiotics! Self-administration of antibiotics is unacceptable! Do not self-medicate. This can aggravate the situation and cause irreparable harm to health.

“With purulent otitis media, an antibiotic N was prescribed. I drank it for 2 weeks – the otitis media passed. But after six months I got a purulent otitis media again. Well, I was prescribed antibiotic N at that time, so I won’t go to the doctor, I’ll drink antibiotic N 2 myself weeks, and otitis will pass. “ – A patient.

In no case should you do this! Although, if you do not have a medical education, then you can’t even correctly diagnose the disease. But still, even if the disease is diagnosed correctly, you cannot use the same treatment that was used last time with exactly the same disease or treatment that with the exact same disease. Even if the disease is exactly the same as last time, the conditions can change: pressure, temperature, concomitant diseases, and many other parameters of the body, external conditions. All this must be taken into account. Therefore, each time you need to see a doctor, and not self-medicate!

In no case should you use antibiotics for prevention! In no case should you stop the treatment prescribed by your doctor!

You have been prescribed a course of antibiotic treatment for 10 days. “Oh, on the 7th day it became easier for me! Why take the antibiotic further? It is harmful to the intestinal microflora. I will stop it.”

If you have been prescribed a 10-day course of treatment, then you must definitely drink an antibiotic for exactly 10 days, no less. If you feel better, then you definitely need to take antibiotics for another 2-3 days.

Why is this needed?

The fact is that antibiotics kill first weak, unstable bacteria to this antibiotic. To destroy the more persistent, you need to act longer. Therefore, when we do not finish the course to the end, the bacteria that are the most resistant to this antibiotic remain, they train on small doses of the antibiotic, mutate, become resistant to it and multiply, causing great inconvenience (even death) to the negligent host / patient. The strongest survive and remain (in fact, the strongest survives, but the fittest). Relapse (re-disease) is very likely. And the next time you are prescribed this antibiotic, it will not act on these resistant bacteria.

Therefore, be sure to drink the entire course of the prescribed antibiotics to the end to completely destroy the germs!

There are bacteria that practically do not develop resistance to antibiotics, and there are bacteria that easily develop resistance (for example, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, etc.).

Since 2006, the use of antibiotics for preventive purposes in animal husbandry has been prohibited by law in the European Union. In the United States, their use is prohibited from 01/01/2017.

You also need to take antibiotics strictly by the hour. If you were prescribed 3 times a day, then we consider: 24 hours (day) divided by 3 times – it turns out 8 hours. Every 8 hours you need to take an antibiotic prescribed 3 times a day.

This is necessary to maintain a constant concentration of the antibiotic in the body. It is important! In the body, for a constant active effect on microbes, a constant concentration of the antibiotic must be maintained.

If you are prescribed an antibiotic 2 times a day, then we think: 24 hours / 2 times = 12 hours. That is, you need to take every 12 hours. If you are prescribed an antibiotic 4 times a day, then: 24/4 = 6 hours – every 6 hours. For example, you were prescribed 4 times a day (every 6 hours). Then, for example, you can take at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00. If 3 times a day (every 8 hours), then you can take it at 23:00, 07:00 and 15:00. If you forget, set an alarm so that it reminds you of the next antibiotic.

It is also important to take an antibiotic before, during, or after a meal. All this will be indicated in the doctor’s instructions.

Topical use of antibiotics (sprays, drops) for the treatment of acute respiratory viral infections, diseases of the throat or nasal cavity (rhinitis) is not recommended, because their concentration there decreases rapidly due to rapid absorption in the mucous membranes and flushing with nasal mucus or saliva. Topical use of antibiotics is permissible only for diseases of the ear or eye, where their concentration remains for a sufficient time.

Important: It should be recorded when, for what, and with what antibiotic they treated you or your child. This information is useful to the doctor.

As for the effect on the intestinal microflora.

The detrimental effect of antibiotics on the intestinal microflora is exaggerated. Allegedly, dysbiosis can occur and you need to take probiotics.

Modern antibiotics are quite gentle on small residents of the intestine. There are broad-spectrum antibiotics (which act either on any bacterium, or most of them), and there are narrow-spectrum antibiotics (which act on specific types of bacteria). Narrow-spectrum antibiotics (those that affect specific types of bacteria) do not affect the intestinal microflora.