Antibiotics are arguably one of the most important drugs available. With so many infections around, their job is to help you fight them. So it's critical that antibiotics work when you need them. But it's also important that they're used correctly.
Pharmacy Week is a collaborative activity between the national Department of Health, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS), South African Pharmacy Council and Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa.
"Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections - not viral illnesses," explains Clicks Pharmacist, Waheed Abdurahman. "This means that they're no good for treating common colds and flu which are caused by rhinovirus, influenza and other viruses. Therefore, if you have a stuffy nose, a cough and a sore throat, antibiotics are definitely not the right treatment option. The best way to treat viral illnesses is to speak to your doctor about relieving the symptoms until your body is able to fight the virus and get well again."
Overused and incorrectly prescribed, antibiotics may cause antibiotic resistance. When a sick person does not finish their full course of antibiotics, the drug only wipes out some, but not all, of the bacteria. The surviving bacteria become stronger and more resistant to the antibiotic, so it becomes less effective. These mutated bacteria can also spread to other people, meaning they also cannot be treated with that antibiotic. Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) is a major example of how a disease that has become resistant and is now much more difficult to treat than ordinary TB. MDR has happened because some TB patients, who need a very long antibiotic treatment, did not finish the course and the TB virus mutated as a result.
Here is how to ensure that antibiotics stay strong enough to fight infections:
