Another thing that I found interesting from the Antimicrobial Stewardship was that I had no idea that there was a problem with overuse of antibiotics before I went. Antibiotic resistance is such a serious thing that myself and many others could be hurt by. This got me thinking about how patients are abusing their medications and how we can become more aware of this issue.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that “Misuse and overuse of these drugs, however, have contributed to a phenomenon known as antibiotic resistance. This resistance develops when potentially harmful bacteria change in a way that reduces or eliminates the effectiveness of antibiotics.” Knowing the harmful impacts could make people more aware of how they are hurting themselves. When you take antibiotics you do not need, there are serious consequences. Some of them are longer illnesses, more doctor visits, more risk of bacterial infections, according to the FDA.
The Centers for Disease Control wrote an article titled “Antibiotics Aren’t Always the Answer” in order to help educate the public. They say, Taking antibiotics for viral infections, such as colds, flu, most sore throats, bronchitis, and many sinus or ear infections:
- Will not cure the infection
- Will not keep other people from getting sick
- Will not help you or your child feel better
- May cause unnecessary and harmful side effects
- May contribute to antibiotic resistance, which is when bacteria are able to resist the effects of an antibiotic and continue to cause harm”
People think that taking antibiotics will improved your infection, help you keep others healthy, but the CDC is emphasizing that these those thoughts are not true.
They are trying to push that these antibiotics WILL do more harm to you.
The CDC also has an awareness week about this topic, which the Antimicrobial Stewardship was included in. “Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a direct result of these infections.”
This statistic is shocking and I believe that there should be more of an awareness to promote this issue. Even though the government is involved and has the ability to help stop it, I think more effort should be put in. One solution I thought of was for your pediatrician to be required to state the reasons for not prescribing medication. From personal experience, I have been upset when my doctor doesn’t give me medicine when I feel awful. My thought process is that everything can be fixed with antibiotics. Since I don’t receive the antibiotics, in my head I feel like I wont get better as fast, so I don’t let myself feel better. If I would have known that antibiotics wouldn’t have helped me fight my miserable virus and drinking a ton of water would help, I would feel a lot better. A simple explanation could have changed my entire outlook on the illness. Mind of matter is a real thing that can dramatically impact your outlook on your health.
Overall, if awareness increases I believe that we can drastically reduce the amount of people who encounter the issue of antibiotic resistance.