Cold or sore throat: are antibiotics useful?
- Posted on 27/12/2022 13:03
- Film
- By raymonddzakpata@sante-education.tg
Extract from the article: Are antibiotics necessary for a cold, sore throat or other respiratory infection? When are they recommended and when should they be avoided? How do you tell the difference?
Are antibiotics necessary for a cold,
sore throat or other respiratory infection? When are they recommended and when
should they be avoided? How do you tell the difference?
Colds, flu and most throat infections are viral in
origin. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses: their target is bacteria. Even if the infection is caused by bacteria,
antibiotics are not necessary: if the body is otherwise healthy, a few days are
usually enough for it to overcome the illness. Antibiotic therapy can be
considered to shorten the recovery time by one or two days, provided that the
medication was administered shortly after the first symptoms appeared.
What
is the problem?
It is extremely difficult to determine quickly the
viral or bacterial origin of the infection and therefore whether or not the
antibiotic will work. And the administration of these drugs is never harmless:
the risk of side effects is not to be neglected, including allergic reactions
and gastrointestinal problems. We should also mention the phenomenon of
increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, a worrying problem. In this context, antibiotics are not
recommended in the case of a cold or sore throat, except in : in at-risk patients, including those with
rheumatic fever, heart disease, cancer, a weakened immune system, in outbreaks
of bacterial infection in communal settings such as nursing homes and schools,
in the presence of fever, difficulty swallowing, redness and swelling of the
face, or any other sign that might lead the doctor to suspect a type of problem
that needs more aggressive management, or if the symptoms persist beyond one
week, let alone if they get worse.
William
O.
