Antibiotics- Boon or bane for infection treatment

Antibiotics- Boon or bane for infection treatment

There was a time in history when people succumbed to infections like pneumonia and tuberculosis. The disease causing organisms attack the body through various routes and overpower the weak immune system and lead to diseases.

An accidental discovery by Sir Alexander Fleming introduced us to the world of antibiotics ( anti = against, bios = life),  a powerful weapon to combat every possible infection on our planet and pave way to a healthy and longer living. Penicillin, the first antibiotic discovered by Sir Fleming proved itself in the second world war by working its way against infections leading to amputation and death. Since then the importance of antibiotics to fight bacterial infections has been proved beyond challenge.

As time progressed,  more and more antibiotics were discovered to target more and more bacterial organisms. A host diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, meningitis, dysentery,  sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, and a lot  more have been successfully cured by judicial use of antibiotics.

So what happened today? Why is there so much mayhem surrounding this life saving drug?

Why are people challenging this wonder discovery? Why do infections fail to respond to medication?

The answer to all these and many such queries lies in the overuse and abuse of antibiotics. Unnecessary prescriptions have led to resistance towards antibiotics. The conditions that once responded with ease to a particular drug,  today call for more attention. The rampant use of antibiotics led to resistance in the organism. In a bid to survive, the bacteria underwent genetic mutation, thus rendering the medications ineffective.

Antibiotics are medicines meant to target bacterial infections only. These drugs have zero effect in viral conditions. The most common viral infection we battle in our daily lives is common cold. This condition is self cured within a week's time. An antibiotic has no role to play in this condition. Similarly, febrile conditions are most commonly due to influenza virus. Most of the viral ailments self correct within a week's time. Injudicious use of antibiotics in diseases of viral nature have paved way for bacterial resistance.

Any drug administered in the system, takes about 48 hours to take visible effect. It is advisable to wait for at least 3 days to notice improvement in the the patients condition and avoid quick change of antibiotic. Every medicine needs to be taken for a certain amount of days. It has been observed that a lot of patients default on treatment and stop the drug as soon as they feel symptomatically better. This has been most commonly observed in the treatment of tuberculosis. The mycobacteria are slow growing and hence the therapy continues for about 9 months even though symptomatic improvement is experienced within a weeks time. This has led to development of multidrug resistant kochs, a condition very rampant in our country.

Awareness is the only way to beat drug resistance. This has to addressed at both, medical and public levels. The subject of pharmacology has to lay more stress on the use, side effects and sensitivity and resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.

Certain measures which can help antibiotics retain its wonder drug status are :

• The treating physician should understand the condition before writing a prescription and ensure avoidance in viral ailments.
• Over the counter sale of these precious drugs has to be banned. The law should enforce the rules strictly with rigorous punishment to those in violation of the law.
• Self prescription of antibiotics  should be discouraged.  
• Pharmaceutical companies should issue guidelines on sensitivity and resistance of the drug to specific organisms to control inadvertent use.
• When in doubt, it is best to get a organism specific drug sensitivity report instead of experimenting with a series of antibiotics.
• Most important, hygiene and civic sense at individual level is a must to control infection.

We need to work as a community to make this life saving discovery a boon to mankind.