Rules for Using Antibiotics

When it comes to treating bacterial infections, antibiotics are THE main form of treatment. Most patients have heard the word "anti-biotic" but do not clearly know what they are and how they work.
To make a long story short, antibiotics are made from bacteria themselves; they are special agents that prevent the multiplication of, or actually stop the growth of other bacteria, or even kill them. As you know, anti- means against, and bio- means related to life; hence, antibiotics are "against life".
Some examples of antibiotics which are frequently used by Paediatricians for sick children are the penicillins, drugs like erythromycin, drugs like the tetracyclines, and so on. To this list must be added some synthetically derived chemcals that also perform as well as the antibiotics - they too can either stop the growth of, or actually kill, disease causing germs (bacteria). As the term implies, antibiotics do work to stop bacteria, but they do not act of other forms of microbes like viruses, fungi, etc. For these other types of disease-causing life-forms, we have anti-viral drugs, anti-fungal drugs, and so on. These medicines are not our focus, so I will, simply, move on.
Patients and their care-givers are never too happy to receive antibiotics, since these are often bitter, induce side-effects like nausea, vomiting, loose bowels, etc. in addition to rarer but more troublesome side-effects like falling hair, blisters in the mouth, rashes on the skin, and so on. Also, antibiotics must, once begun, be continued for the entire prescribed duration. This increases the risk of side-effects even more.
It is therefore imperative to know what rules and principles govern the use of antibiotics. Here is a basic list. I hope readers go through this basic list and then seek more information should they desire it through a comprehensive source such as an internet search or access to a text-book of pharmacology.
1. Use an antibiotic only after consulting a physician.
2. Never use an antibiotic for a period longer than that told to you by the physician. A shorter period than that advised will probably not hurt the child, but it, still, is not the correct thing to do. Most common illnesses need use of an antibiotic for about 5-7 days, though the period can vary from just one day to as many as 42 days, or even longer, depending upon the characteristics of thei llness as well as the drug being used.
3. Store an opened bottle of antibiotic inside the refrigerator, or, if that is not available in your home, in a dark and cool area of the house, such as in the bathroom wall cabinet, or a special drug cabinet, or whatever. Exposure to heat can cause denaturation of the active medicine inside the bottle, so that, at the very least, it may change colour, or at the very worst, it can cease to be effective.
4. Do not repeat an old prescription thinking that :what worked for the patient the last time will also work this time. This almost always never happens, as illnesses that look alike in appearance and manifestation may actually be two different illnesses, needing different medicines.
5. Even worse, do not use antibiotics used by other friends or neighbours; for the same reason, of course, but also because as they may not be related to the patient genetically, the same medicine may not just not work; it may even prove to be harmful to you or your child.
6. Antibiotics should not be used for viral illnesses, fungal infections and so on, as, clearly, they won't work in such illnesses.
7. Dosing and frequency of use should be strictly adhered to, as germs and antibiotics complement each other: for example, if the recommended dose is 5 ml twice a day, do not arbitrarily change it to, say, 3 times a day. This can prove to be disastrous to the child.
These are the basic rules. There are many others, such as whether to have them before a meal or after, which other medicines to avoid taking WITH it, and so on. Do ask the treating physician about the relevant questions and be guided by the light of knowledge.
Thank you for the read. Do leave your comments.

The most effective prevention against diseases

Returning to this blog after several months, I found, happily, that people continue to visit my blog as before. I decided to re-enter the world of advising lay people and this entry is a step in that direction. 

Most readers would agree that there are many measures to prevent diseases; some include making major changes in life-style, some involve taking expensive vaccines or medicines; some involve relocating oneself from a harmful environment, and still others call for expensive investigations to detect the harbingers of an illness that is yet to affect you. However, the most beneficial and most inexpensive method to thwart diseases - specially infective illnesses, which are a significant cause of illness and death all over the world - is correct hand-washing. 

As doctors, we all do it countless numbers of times every day during our busy office practice. Surgeons wash their hands so thoroughly that they sometimes spend minutes on this pre-op preparation. It stands to reason, therefore, that the medical fraternity is convinced that hand-washing is extremely important. The reason is simple: our bodies are colonised by billions of bacteria, some harmless, but many, the cause of skin infections as well as more deadly internal infections that have the potential to kill. 

About 2.2 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but remarkably, handwashing with soap can dramatically cut the number of young children who get sick. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 6 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia. Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively. (From: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/GlobalHandwashing/)

The Center for Diseases Control, USA has several articles on hand-washing, and THIS ARTICLE forms the important backdrop. THIS ONE is the one that details when and how hand-washing must be done. Be sure to click on the "Show me the Science" link on the left to better understand the rationale behind hand-washing. 

I hope this entry helps you to understand how important this simple method of disease prevention is. Be blessed.

Antibiotic abuse

Most parents and care-givers expect the doctor to prescribe an antibiotic whenever they take their child to the doctor for symptoms of cough and cold, a runny nose or a sore throat. In fact, during my practice, I had to face their (the patents') angry glances when I told them that the antibiotic was not only unnecessary, but likely to produce harm than good.

The CDC calls the misuse/overuse/abuse of antibiotics as one of the greatest scourges of the modern world. The reason for this is simple to understand.

The first thing to know is that most common infective illnesses are caused either by bacteria or by viruses. While bacteria are life forms and when attacked by antibiotics, are likely to get killed, viruses are pure genetic material that multiply inside human cells and thus cause illness. Treating a bacterial illness with an antibiotic may make sense if the child has been seen by a qualified doctor; managing a viral illness with the same kind of medicine is useless as viruses are not "life" forms in the way we understand life.

Well, then, you might ask, why all this hullabaloo over using antibiotics for viral illness? The reasons are twofold. The first is that antibiotic overuse may create an environment inside your body that makes bacteria get used to those antibiotics ... so that you need stronger and stronger antibiotic agents the next time you have the same illnesses that needed simpler antibiotics the last time around.

In addition to this problem of antibiotic resistant germs making their home in your body temple, there is one other major problem caused by the ill-advised use of antibiotics, which is the occurrence of SIDE EFFECTS.  As antibiotics are medicines, they can produce side-effects as varied as rashes, loose motions, fever, vomiting, body aches and so on. These side-effects are usually temporary, but can drain the little ones' energy and cause problems that may need a consultation with the HIGHER specialist. 

Thus, my advise to you all is this: try and resist an antibiotic prescription, and if you do need it, or think you need it, re-visit the child's doctor for him/her to endorse the need for it; use the entire course without interruption (usually, antibiotics are used for a fixed duration of between 6-10 days, but there are a few which are only needed to be given for 3 days, and some that are needed for longer than 10 days. The last bit of advice is to never keep the unused portion of a liquid antibiotic for future use as such antibiotics lose potency beyond the specified storage period of about 3-7 days.

An additional bit of caution: never use antibiotics prescribed for your friend/cousin/neighbour's child. This is simply disastrous.

I hope this post has helped to clarify the position about the captioned topic. Thank you for reading.

How to raise a genius child

I am posting this because of a personal request by Ms. Allison Morris to share this with the readers of this blog. I do not entirely endorse the point of view expressed by the site, because I believe bringing up a well-rounded child may be important, but should not be the only goal for parents. It is rather more important not to pressure the child at a tender age and let him/her grow at his/her natural pace. However, here is the link to the site:

http://www.onlinepsychologydegree.net/raise-a-genius

Do go through the site and post your comments below in the comments section.