As I mentioned in my previous post there are three different views to the argument on whether or not antibiotic use should be prolonged.

In this post I will discuss the second view, which is if it is an acute infection it is not necessary to continue antibiotics after you feel better, Gwendolyn Gilbert is an advocate for this view. Gilbert is a professor at the University of Sydney. She believes that ” there is minimal risk in stopping antibiotics if the signs and symptoms of a mild infection had resolved” so her belief is if it is an acute infection, you should be fine if you don’t finish your prescription. Chris Del Mar is another professor who agrees with this concept. My question is what makes an acute infection different from a severe infection? The answer seems to be that if it’s a serious infectious disease then symptoms may improve even though bacteria may still be  “flourishing” in the body.

However, if it’s a little infection , the body can usually “mop up” the rest of the bacteria , that the antibiotics didn’t take care of. As I said in my previous post antibiotics wipes out all bacteria , even harmless bacteria, these professors say that could leave patients vulnerable to bacteria becoming resistant. So Gilbert suggest , that the less antibiotics one is exposed to the better. Evidence shows that for minor infections like a UTI (urinary tract infection) two or three days is sufficient to clear up the infection, yet doctors prescribe it for five days. That is completely unnecessary.  Professor Chris Del Mar has actually been quoted stating ” the old mantra about finishing a course of antibiotics was based on an assumption that unless you eradicated the infection it could come back and you would need another course of antibiotics, but there is no evidence for this except in a few very specific illnesses such as tuberculosis” in simple terms unless it’s a serious infection you do not need to finish all antibiotics because it will not remove all the bacteria in your body. Although that is the popular belief.two professors basically think that the question of whether to stop antibiotics when you feel better is complicated. It is based on numerous things. Such as whether or not its a severe infection or your medical history. The decision should be made on a case by case basis , and pertain solely to that individual patient. So basically their on the fence about the issue.

Again my take away: I need a definite answer on the issue , it is not clear to me whether or not I should finish my antibiotics or not. I have heard many anecdotes on the situation. As Andrew mentioned in class anecdotes are not sufficient enough evidence to prove whether or not the science is correct. Nonetheless, I am going to still share my anecdote. I have a friend who had strep throat and was prescribed antibiotics , and decided he was gonna stop taking them after he felt better, and the infection returned again two weeks later. So this ideology would not cut it for him and it’s not cutting it for me. I would not want to be the one who stops the antibiotic and get an even worse infection. Or be the person who is continually taking my antibiotics and contributing to the problem of resistant bacteria. So this idea leaves me stuck in the middle.