Antibiotics for a Cold Should be Better Controlled
A close acquaintance that went to a Doc with clear symptoms of a common cold got treated with antibiotics recently which prompted this missive. They had taken the antibiotics for four days without any relief. SURPRISE! SURPRISE! In one huge recent study, of almost 200,000 patients with colds, about half were given unnecessary antibiotics.
The cost of the appointment and antibiotics were certainly a waste! Antibiotics can control bacteria and yeasts, not viruses. The reasons for not prescribing are much more important than money. The dreaded bacterial resistance to antibiotics results from overprescribing because bacteria in our bodies adapt by becoming resistant and when these outlaw bugs do cause infections they do not respond to the normal medicines. This can allow people with resistant strains to infect others in hospitals and even doctor’s offices with potentially fatal bugs.
