In 1928 Alexander Fleming, a Scottish scientist discovered the first antibiotic, revolutionizing the way physicians treat disease. Today, people consume more than 230 million doses of antibiotics each year.
“While antibiotics can mean the difference between life and death,” said Alison Irwin, clinical pharmacy coordinator at Baptist Health System’s Princeton Baptist Medical Center, “serious problems can also arise if these medications are not used appropriately.”
Physicians and pharmacists caution that overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance and an increased risk of prolonged illness or death. Noncompliance — that is, failing to take antibiotics exactly as directed — can also promote the development of resistant bacteria.
“Resistance can occur when bacteria that cause infection are not killed by the antibiotic,” she said.
“When an antibiotic attacks a group of bacteria, those more susceptible to the medication are killed; but some more resistant bacteria may survive and multiply rapidly, passing that resistance on to new generations of bacteria,” she said.
Penicillin is a well-known example. At one time, Irwin noted, penicillin could be used to treat many bacterial infections, but its use is now very limited because of resistance that has developed. “Now we are seeing infections that are resistant even to the newer antibiotics.”
Antibiotic resistance is an increasingly widespread problem, according to Irwin. “Many patients just don’t feel that they’ve been treated unless they receive a prescription for an antibiotic, even for colds and other viral infections,” she said. Antibiotics can help fight infections caused by bacteria, but not viruses, such as the one that is the culprit for “the common cold.”
To choose the most appropriate antibiotic, physician may order cultures (tests with various antibiotics and samples of the bacteria) to determine what kind of bacteria are causing an infection and to which antibiotics the bacteria is sensitive. “By targeting a specific bacterial infection with the most appropriate antibiotic, we reduce the likelihood of increasing resistance to antibiotics.”
What role can a patient play in preventing the development of drug-resistant bacteria? Irwin offers these tips:
-Talk with a doctor to determine what treatment is best.
-Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed.
-Don’t take antibiotics prescribed for other people.
-Even if feeling better, take all of the antibiotic prescribed.
-Check the expiration date and don’t take out-of-date medications.
-Recognize that while antibiotics are useful drugs, they are not useful for viral infections such as colds or the flu.
“Pulling last year’s antibiotics from the medicine cabinet to self-treat this year’s flu-bug is definitely not a good idea,” Irwin said. (BHS)
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