Published in El Pais, August 3rd 2019.
It is oh so easy, one gets a cold and runs to the doctor for medication. However, if we are suffering from a cold, which is a virus, there is no real medication that helps us cure. The only one is to take care, sleep and drink enough. Some believe that using an antibiotic will help, but it won’t, if you are cured after five days, it was your immune system that helped, not the antibiotic. In the case you have an infection caused by bacteria, you probably still do not need an antibiotic. If you are a healthy adult person with a well-functioning immune system, you can deal with the bacteria yourself. Virus or bacteria, it is very likely that your grandmothers’ soup recipe and stay in bed, is the best treatment.
So why am I pushing to not use antibiotics? Overuse of antibiotics can cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics and an infection with those killer-bacteria, can be mortal or cause a lifelong disability. According to an article in The Lancet, in 2015 there were 33.110 deaths attributable to antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. For the comparison in 2009 this was estimated on 25.000 deaths.
For example, according to data presented by the WHO in 2019, between 8% to 65% of E. coli associated with urinary tract infections presented resistance to ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat this condition.
Bacteria constantly mutate and with the overuse of antibiotics we give opportunity for mutations that are resistant. Every year new mutated bacteria cause deaths, and it takes science about 10 years to develop a new antibiotic to treat infections of these new types. It is a battle that is hard to win and reducing the use of antibiotics can slow down this process and give science a fair chance.
According to data from the OECD in 2018, they estimate that until 2050 2.4 million people will die because of these bacteria. The cost to these economies is estimated at 3500 million dollars yearly.
One of the most critical causes of overuse of antibiotics is the purchase of antibiotics without a recipe of a medical doctor. Not all countries have strict or controlled regulations that forbid the sale of antibiotics over the counter. This leads to a situation that people at the first cough, fever or diarrhea run to buy a broad-spectrum antibiotic without a recipe. Another cause is that, since bacterial infections are higher in developing countries, many hospitals use antibiotics in a prophylactic way and although that strategy probably save lives, they also push the antibiotic resistant bacteria.
What to do? If you are not a doctor, go to see one when you feel sick, don’t self-medicate. Second, make sure you have a healthy lifestyle with sports, a varied diet, with fruits, vegetables etc. so your body can deal with infections itself. And patience with the time to heal.
Be the first to comment