Antibiotic overuse is just as bad an antibiotic crisis and antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance occurs when germs like bacteria and viruses develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them.
Even with the correct use of the antibiotics prescribed by a doctor, the germs don’t die or even worse, keep growing.
What Is Antibiotic Overuse?
Antibiotics are very important in the healthcare system especially due to their efficacy in dealing with blood infections and other kinds of infections. Antibiotics not only treat diseases from bacterial infections but also prevent the spread of diseases.
Antibiotic overuse occurs when you take antibiotics even though they are not the correct treatment. Excessive use and misuse of antibiotics for that matter leads to unwanted side effects like antibiotic resistance.
One great example of antibiotics is taking them for an infection that after a viral infection blood test proves to be a viral infection rather than a bacterial one. Antibiotics treat infections caused by bacteria only.
Just to keep you in the loop, examples of viral infections include flus, coughs and bronchitis.
What Happens When You Take Antibiotics for Viral Infections?
Taking antibiotics for viral infections won’t cure them. In fact, it may cause avoidable harmful side effects. It may even not prevent other people from getting infected. Leaving the best for last, the chief antibiotic crisis, antibiotic resistance.
Before taking antibiotics for any infection, you are advised to take a viral infection blood test to solidly conclude if the infection is bacteria or viral. Taking antibiotics for viral infections may even attack the good bacteria we have in our bodies that have literally nothing to do with the infection.
Complications of Antibiotic Overuse
On top of the ones I just mentioned, there are other more severe complications of antibiotic overuse:
Upsetting Stomach Bacteria
A little biology lesson for you: the intestines contain around 100 trillion bacteria of different kinds, roles and strains. In all fairness, some are indeed deadly but there is a natural balance to it from the not harmful ones. The latter are referred to as gut flora and they aid in supporting immunity and proper digestion.
Antibiotic overuse or aggressive antibiotics can wipe out many of the good bacteria in the gut while they go about their business of eliminating infections. To make matters worse, some of the harmful bacteria may have developed resistance to the antibiotics, so taking the antibiotics in the first place is very counterproductive.
People with not so good immunity like kids may develop nasty side effects to the unnecessary antibiotics.
Antibiotic Resistance
I think antibiotic resistance deserves another mention with the adverse effects it has on patients and society as a whole. Consistent antibiotic overuse can lead to antibiotic resistance, which renders more and more antibiotics pretty much useless.
Without effective antibiotics in the market, treating infections becomes harder and harder having to complete 3, 4 rounds of treatment. The treatment will take longer and is certainly more expensive.
Fatal Diarrhea Cases in Children
Diarrhea and stomach flu are mainly viral infections so trying to remedy them with antibiotics defines antibiotic misuse. It does nothing to treat the infection and can instead create unwanted side effects.
When antibiotics are incorrectly prescribed, children are put at unnecessary risk of developing severe infections like fatal diarrhea.
What You Can Do to Avoid Complications of Antibiotic Overuse
As a potential patient, you could first avoid asking your doctor or medical practitioner to prescribe antibiotics. Ask them what type of infection you may be suffering from before deciding you want to treat the infection with antibiotics.
Get all recommended vaccines to protect yourself from potential infections of any kind that may lead to potential antibiotic misuse if not handled right.
