Popping pills without paying attention to the required dosage or the doctor’s prescription can surely land one in trouble. What’s even more alarming is that such carelessness can cater to bacteria-developing resistance in the body.
While being treated for typhoid, one-year-old Kavya spent 17 painful days in the ICU. For two weeks during the treatment, his body did not respond to any medicines. Doctors found that the one-year--old was already resistant to many drugs, and they had to resort to a very strong unconventional antibiotic to treat him.
"In the last few years, doctors have witnessed a lot of multi-drug resistant cases, which make treatment of a patient extremely difficult. And such resistance against antibiotics is developed mostly due to indiscriminate use of antibiotics," says Dr Arvind Taneja, Pediatrician, Max Hospital.
Bacteria and viruses mutate rapidly, adapting to the changing environment to ensure their survival. Treating these bacteria turns difficult when the patient misuses drugs like antibiotics. Bacteria develop resistance against the antibiotics popped up carelessly, making the drugs completely ineffective.
In some cases, doctors have to go back to using drugs used eight to ten years ago. This is because they have a better shot at working since the bacteria have lost their resistance to the older drugs.
Do not self medicate.
Do not take antibiotics for viral infections like the common cold. They only work for bacterial infections not viral.
