What is the medical profession's philosophy of using antibiotics for common, Non-life-threatening diseases?

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Apocalypse Cow
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such as acute bronchitis or sinusitis, in an otherwise healthy adult? I have the impression that the goal is to wipe out virtually all the harmful bacteria in 7-10 days (or in the case of Zithromax, 4 days). Whether so, given the current concern over drug-resistant bacteria, and the loss of healthy bacteria ecologies in our bodies, wouldn't it be more prudent to take just enough antibiotics to reduce the numbers, and let our own immune systems take care of the rest?
Swamy, I think you misconceive my question. I didn't intend to eliminate all diseases, just whether they want to eliminate all the bacteria causing This specific infection at this time, in this person.


J.SWAMY I
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Our philosophy is only to eliminate only the infection that is troubling the patient. Each type of bacteria have different antibiotic So there no philosophy to eliminate all infections. Natural resistance is encouraged by diet,Vitamins control of diabetes and rest.

amit
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Yes, you are correct but it is not practical as the immune level of each person will be different and it will require complete understanding of each person immune system and their resistance to each kind of bacteria to reach at appropriate dosage level. and any error in dosage can lead to drug resistant bacteria.

but there are alternative system of medicine like Homeopathy, Ayurved, Unani which tries to address the root cause rather than symptoms. Best way to keep healthy is to Eat Healthy, be Emphasise free and do exercise atleast thrice a week( Aerobics,Jogging,Walking, Yoga) and final but most important atleast take six hour of sleep. )

anybody
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The medical profession's philosophy Should be this:

1. Use antibiotics Only when there is solid reason to suspect a bacterial infection.
2. Give an appropriately long enough course to eliminate the bacteria in question.

Unfortunately - antibiotics are given out like candy for the Slightest tip of a sniffle or earache or sore throat - irrespective of the likelihood of it being a bacteria or virus.

Reason? Demanding patients and doctors who are apathetic and have forgotten how to practice sound medicine.

luke
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Agree with anybody Patients don't want to pay for a physician's visit and not receive a prescription of some sort to go domestic with. Otherwise, they feel like the doctor isn't treating them properly even whether their symptoms don't denote antibiotics. Likewise, many primary care doctors have become quite lazy and just constantly hand out penicillin and zpacks for the slightest tip of a cough. This is already becoming a problem and will receive much more serious in the future as all these antibiotics continue to be overused, thus reducing their effectiveness in patients as well as contributing to strains of infections fitting resistant to the antibiotics.

Pangolin
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Agree with anybody and Luke.

The problem with your plan to use only enough antibiotics to reduce the numbers is that you will kill the weaker bacteria and leave the stronger ones to flourish. Also, how would you know when the bacteria was reduced enough?

Most bronchitis is viral, and antibiotics should not be prescribed for it. I don't know how many times I've seen patients who get a bloodless before surgery, go to their primary care doc who prescribes them a Z-pack and tells them they can have surgery as planned. (there us an increased risk of respiratory complications in patients with upper respiratory infections undergoing anesthesia). I want to slap those docs. Hard.

No, take your antibiotics for bacterial infections for the full course, and eat some yogurt to help recolonize your intestine. And don't take antibiotics for viral infections. No benefit, but the opportunity of side effects, and bad for public health.

John de Witt
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Joined: 01/12/2010

Whether a course of antibiotics will do significant good at minimal cost in decreasing morbidity, that's fine. It isn't so simple a impeach as your subtext suggests, though. In most cases, acute bronchitis and sinusitis don't do any better with antibiotic treatment than without, so it's rather pointless. Another example perhaps more to the point is antiviral treatment of influenza, which is obviously not going to have much effect on the average person; but there is a small amount of mortality associated with the disease, and it isn't always clear who's at risk for later development of complications. Also, you should understand that macrolides like Zithromax are bacteriostatic in nature: they don't kill all the germs but do rely on the immune system to take care of the rest.

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