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Get Smart About Antibiotics Week

                        
From library.rehabmart.com

Did you know that colds, flu, most sore throats and bronchitis are caused by viruses?  Are you aware that antibiotics do not help fight viruses?  And that if you take an antibiotic while you have a viral infection that you are actually doing more harm than good because taking antibiotics when they are not needed increases your chances of a bacterial infection later that will be resistant to antibiotic therapies?

While more people are now aware of the dangers of the overuse of antibiotics, and have heard of bacterial resistance and 'super bugs', there is still a large part of the population that does not understand the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection, and when it is appropriate to use antibiotics.  There continue to be doctors who over-prescribe them, sometimes because their patients demand them, even though they don't have bacterial infections.  They are also still widely used in food animal production, not just to treat sick animals, but to help prevent illness from crowding, poor sanitation and to encourage more growth and bigger animals.  A whopping 70% of all antibiotics sold in the United States are given to healthy food animals.

Antibiotics are some of the most important and life-saving medicine that we have.  The discovery of penicillin shaped the face of modern medicine in a new, miraculous way and many lives have been saved with the use of antibiotics through the years since.  But we all started using antibiotics way too much, and often for illnesses that were viral in nature.  Antibiotics ONLY work against bacteria, not viruses.  But many doctors, thinking they were erring on the side of caution, prescribed antibiotics for many different illnesses through the years, not knowing for sure if they were viral or bacterial.  And sick patients still ask for them, will actually demand them and get them, even when the doctor knows that they are better off without them.

All of this overuse has led to strains of bacteria becoming resistant to ANY antibiotics that modern medicine can come up with so far.  These resistant strains are also referred to as 'super bugs'.  One of the most well known super bugs, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a bacterium which is responsible for several resistant infections in humans.  These kinds of resistant infections have become very prevalent in healthy society, while not that long ago, MRSA was pretty much only happening inside of hospitals.

According to the CDC, antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world's most pressing public health problems and the number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics has increased in the last decade.  Many bacterial infections are becoming resistant to the most commonly prescribed antibiotic treatments.  It is important to note that when someone is prescribed a round of antibiotic therapy for an appropriate bacterial infection, it is critical that the person takes the entire course of treatment, and doesn't stop after a few days, or feeling better.  This may leave bacteria that has not been killed to grow and multiply, possibly infecting others and one's self again...and the next round of antibiotics may not be as effective as the remaining bacteria might have already mutated to meet the challenge.  Repeated and improper uses of antibiotics are some of the primary causes of the increase in drug-resistant bacteria.

Thankfully, many 'natural' antibiotics are still effective against many of these resistant bacteria.  Garlic, raw honey (especially Manuka), goldenseal, echinacea, andrographis, oregano, olive leaf, grapefruit seed extract, Oregon grape, and colloidal silver are just a few of my favorite natural antibiotics...with more than a few of them also doubling as antivirals, as well.  Essential oils used in aromatherapy tend to have very strong antibiotic and antiseptic effects, with some having wonderful antiviral qualities, too.  Research and discuss your options with your doctor; just because something is natural does not mean that it will be right for you.  But many people are turning to alternative medicine for their health needs, and research shows that these herbs and more natural approaches are actually killing this resistant bacteria, where all the extremely powerful antibiotics did not.

The CDC and several other groups and organizations concerned about the overuse of antibiotics urge us to 'get smart' about antibiotics and when their use is actually indicated.  As far as respiratory illnesses go, most are caused by viruses, not bacteria.  The notable exception is strep throat, which is bacterial and should be treated with antibiotics.  But colds, flu, chest colds and bronchitis, most sore throats, runny nose with colored discharge and earaches caused by fluid in the middle ear are all viral and should NOT be treated with antibiotics.

"Working together, citizens, government, industry and public interest organizations have the tools to reduce overuse and misuse of antibiotics", says the Save Antibiotics organization. The CDC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration all testified before Congress that there was a definitive link between the routine, non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics in food animal production and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans.  Additionally, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading medical groups all warn that the routine use of antibiotics in food animals presents a serious and growing threat to human health because it creates new strains of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  For more information about antibiotics in food animal production, go to the The Pew Charitable Trusts - Human Health and Industrial Farming website to find out more.
 
We can all work together by supporting The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act which would withdraw the routine, non-therapeutic use of seven classes of antibiotics vitally important to human health from food animal production unless the animals or herds are sick with diagnosed bacterial issues.  Federal legislation such as this and/or regulation is needed in order to preserve the effectiveness of these life-saving drugs and to protect human health.

We can also do our part by educating ourselves about our bodies and our own individual health needs and by using more natural approaches to health whenever possible.  We can learn when it is appropriate to take an antibiotic and when it is not, and pass this information on to our friends and families.  We can 'get smart' about antibiotics and by doing so, help our whole world to get smarter about them, too.
 
 

Carol Koenigsknecht, Medical Consumer Writer
and
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Team Leader & CEO