Medical Questions » Antibiotics Questions » Question No. 55
| Question: | What are antibiotics? Doctors seem to prescribe them all the time. |
| Answer: | Antibiotics are a group of very different chemicals that have the ability to destroy bacteria, but they have no effect upon viral infections. Most of the infections seen by a general practitioner are caused by viruses, and there is no need for antibiotics in these cases.
Doctors will use antibiotics if the infection appears to be bacterial, or if a person has reduced immunity, is elderly, frail, liable to recurrent infections or due for an operation, an antibiotic may be used to prevent a bacterial infection. Major problems can occur with the overuse of antibiotics. Cost is the first one, and as the government pays part of the cost of everyone' s antibiotics, this is a problem affecting every taxpayer. Side effects are another problem. These can include rashes, diarrhoea (which can stop the oral contraceptive pill from working), nausea, fever and some rarer and more serious complications. The most important problem is the development of resistance, which can enable bacteria to change in a way which makes them able to resist the actions of an antibiotic that was previously very effective. |
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