The "Super Germs" Are Here

As a parent, when you take your sick child to the doctor, you may expect a prescription for an antibiotic, regardless of the diagnosis. Many people view antibiotics as a cure-all, and doctors find that some patients demand them. Despite the doctors' advice, we are uncomfortable leaving the office without a prescription for something.

But doctors and researchers are very alarmed that "super germs"—resistant to all known antibiotics—are multiplying because of our over-dependence on antibiotics. Bacteria with natural resistance to a given antibiotic manage to withstand treatment and multiply.

If the same antibiotic is prescribed again to the same person, the process repeats itself. Gradually, resistant bacteria predominate, making the antibiotic less and less effective.

The result: The more you or your child takes an antibiotic, the quicker it becomes useless. In addition, family members, co-workers, or school mates become susceptible to resistant bugs, spread through nasal fluid, food and saliva.

Antibiotics are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the US

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

  • The use of antibiotics among children has jumped more than 48 percent since 1980, in large part because of an increase in ear infections.
  • Doctors prescribe more than 133 million doses of antibiotics each year to non-hospital patients.
  • Hospitals administer 190 million doses of antibiotics a day.
Antibiotics kill bacteria—they don't kill viruses

Antibiotics are substances that kill or interfere with the growth of micro-organisms, especially bacteria. They have no effect on a virus and should be prescribed only when tests or clinical suspicion reveal that the infection is bacterial.

According to Robert S. Fawcett, MD, MS, assistant director of the York Health System Family Practice Residency Program, a study of 100 adults showed that:

  • 46 percent believe antibiotics are effective treatment for viruses.
  • 60 percent are unaware of the problem of microbial resistance.
Other studies find that patients often receive prescriptions for antibiotics even though their diagnosis doesn't require it. A study by the University of South Carolina looked at a national databank of 58,842 cases of upper respiratory infections, influenza, or acute bronchitis—all caused by viruses. It found that 43 percent of patients got antibiotics at their first visit.

Antibiotics help strep throat—not colds and flu

Prescriptions for antibiotics are most commonly written for such ailments as:

  • Ear infection
  • Sinusitis
  • Bronchitis
  • Sore throat
  • Colds
Ear infection
Treating acute ear infection with antibiotics is beneficial when the infection is accompanied by other symptoms like:

  • Pus
  • Bulging or inflamed tympanic membrane
  • A painful ear
  • Fever
Sinusitis

Sinusitis is viral, with most cases improving after a week. Antibiotics should be considered only if symptoms are present for 10 to 14 days without improvement.

A common scenario
 
A patient seeks a physician's attention for a sore throat. Before the results of a throat culture confirm strep, the doctor prescribes an antibiotic. Dr. Fawcett says a diagnosis of strep should be based on results of the lab tests in conjunction with clinical and epidemiologic findings.

Antibiotics should not be given to a child with a sore throat unless the physician has diagnosed Group A Streptococcal or other bacterial infection. "Prescribing antibiotics without a positive diagnosis of bacterial infection is felt to be considerable antibiotic overtreatment," Dr. Fawcett says. "Patients should not demand antibiotics and physicians should prescribe antibiotics only when they are sure an infection is bacterial."

The CDC urges people, especially those older than 65 and those with chronic diseases, to be vaccinated against pneumococcal infection. Pneumococcal bacteria are the most common bacterial causes of meningitis, ear infections and pneumonia.

Visit the Pennsylvania Coalition to Save Antibiotic Strength (PaCSAS) for more educational materials.
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