When you are diagnosed
with common cold or flu, you will want something to make you feel better and
that too within a short period and you are likely to ask your doctor for
antibiotics without understand the cause of your symptoms whether it is viral
or bacterial. The first thing that the
doctor will do is to give you medicines for pain and fever relievers but it may
take few days to more than a week for you to get well, and in spite of giving
the above, if you are not relieved from the viral infection, the doctor may
start you on antiviral drugs, antiviral drugs are prescription medicines pills,
liquid, inhaled powder that fight against the flu in your body. Sometimes the situation is not always clear
and people can get bacterial complications from the flu which can be sometimes
life-threatening unless they are treated with antibiotics. The doctor will try to diagnose whether it
has got bacterial cause to it and accordingly the doctor might even prescribe you antibiotics which is also known
as anti bacterials, and these are medicines that destroy or slows down the
growth of bacteria which might be the cause for your prolonged suffering.
Antivirals are those drugs that are used to treat people
who have already been infected by a virus. These are also used to prevent or
limit infection when given before or shortly after exposure, before illness
occurs. Note that an antiviral drug is effective only when administered within
a certain time frame before or after exposure and is effective during the time
that the drug is being administered.
Antibiotics are those medicines that interfere with the reproduction
of bacteria and can, therefore, only used for treating bacterial infections.
Viral diseases, like flu, are not to be treated with antibiotics. Also, inappropriate
use of antibiotics due to not able to diagnose the cause of infection also contribute
to the development of antibiotic resistance which is a growing health concern.
Secondary bacterial infections that may occur in tissues that have been damaged
by influenza virus infection may well be treated with antibiotics. When you are being administered with
antibiotics by the doctor, ensure that you complete the antibiotics course even
if your symptoms subside, this is very important so that that particular strand
of bacteria do not have resistance to that antibiotics when it happens next
time.
It has been observed
that overuse of antibiotics has contributed to a global antibiotic resistance
crises, and due to this majority of those people who have used antibiotics one
time or the other are more likely to have bacterial resistance develop in their
body.
