How to use antibiotics for safety

Perhaps antibiotics are the most important drug because everyone needs it. However, many people have used it incorrectly so they do not bring the desired effect.

Dr Zelalem Temesgen, an infectious disease specialist at Mayo Hospital in Rochester, has given instructions to help doctors and residents know when to use antibiotics, when and how to use them. it's correct.

There are many points to note when using antibiotics.

Three infectious disease specialists, Surbhi Leekha, of the University of Maryland, Christine L. Terrell and Randall S. Edson, of Mayo Hospital, recommended that antibiotics should not be considered as a panacea. Instead, it is necessary to pay attention to each specific patient to decide whether to use antibiotics and how to use them:

For people with liver and kidney disease: Liver and kidneys excrete toxic substances from the body. In patients with liver and kidney disease, these two agencies do not work well, leading to an accumulation of antibiotics, toxic to the blood.

Elderly: Aging also affects the choice of antibiotics, due to changes in body size and kidney function. Surgery can hide your age but cannot hide antibiotics. In the elderly, the age of the kidneys is weaker so the dose of antibiotics is lower.

Pregnant and lactating women: Some antibiotics may adversely affect the baby. In the first three months of pregnancy, improper use of the drug can cause birth defects. However, in the last three months, the drug is removed from the body faster so you can use higher doses.

People who are allergic to antibiotics: When suspected of being allergic to an antibiotic, doctors should conduct a skin test to determine if this antibiotic is appropriate. According to Dr. Adson, in this case we should use antibiotics with increasing doses gradually.

New to antibiotics: Tell the doctor when you last used antibiotics. If you have been using it for three months while the disease is still developing, it is possible that the germs are resistant and you will need to take a new antibiotic to treat it.

Genetic characteristics: Some people from birth did not tolerate certain antibiotics. For example, many people, especially black people in the body, lack G6PD, so some antibiotics can destroy blood cells. Therefore, before deciding to use antibiotics, it is necessary to check whether the patient is deficient in G6PD.

Dr. Edson said, many people abuse antibiotics, use it too often even when they are not infected by bacteria. In this case, antibiotics are not only beneficial but also harmful.

Doctors also recommend that people should use narrow-spectrum antibiotics (drugs for specific diseases) instead of broad-spectrum antibiotics (shared with many diseases caused by some bacteria) to reduce the risk of drug resistance. .