Antibiotics are medicines
that kill the bacteria that cause infections.
Purpose
Physicians and patients have come to depend on antibiotics to treat
everything from sore throats and urinary tract infections to
Meningitis and Tuberculosis. These drugs are also used to prevent
infections before, during, and after surgery. But in recent years,
health experts have noticed that antibiotics are becoming less and
less effective as people use them more and more. This happens
because of antibiotic resistance, a problem that develops when
antibiotics are over-used or mis-used.
Everyone can help keep antibiotic resistance from becoming an even
bigger problem than it already is. Here are some important
guidelines:
- Do not pressure a physician to prescribe an antibiotic for a
cold or flu. Usually, such illnesses are due to a viral
infection, which cannot be treated with an antibiotic. Taking an
antibiotic when it is not needed will only encourage the spread
of resistant bacteria in the body and in the community.
- If a physician prescribes an antibiotic, do not be afraid to
ask why the medicine is being prescribed. Make sure the
physician has good reason to believe that the medicine will
effectively treat the particular condition for which it is being
prescribed.
- When an antibiotic is appropriately prescribed, be sure to
take all the medicine, for as long as directed. When a patient
stops taking the medicine too soon, only the most vulnerable
bacteria are killed, leaving the rest to thrive. Any illness
caused by the remaining, resistant bacteria will then be harder
to treat.
Description
Different antibiotics kill bacteria in different ways. Some
short-circuit the processes by which bacteria get energy, others
disturb the structure of the bacterial cell wall, and still
others interfere with the production of essential proteins.
Some 150 antibiotics are available. These include
Tetracyclines, Aminoglycosides, Penicillins, Cephalosporins,
Fluoroquinolones, Streptogramins, Sulfonamides, and
Erythromycins.
Antibiotics are classified as narrow-spectrum drugs when they
work against only a few types of bacteria. Broad-spectrum
antibiotics are effective against a wide range of bacteria.
However, broad-spectrum antibiotics are more likely to promote
antibiotic resistance. For that reason, narrow-spectrum
antibiotics, which often cost less, should be used whenever
possible. Broad-spectrum antibiotics should be reserved for
infections that do not respond to treatment with narrow-spectrum
drugs.
