Effect of antibiotics

The study results are trying to associate the use of antibiotics and their effects on a patient’s respiratory infection both in the short and long run.

Impact of antibiotics on patients

Researchers showed that patients given antibiotics for acute and non specific respiratory infections were not at a greater risk compared to those who were not given the right antibiotics for adverse respiratory conditions. They also found out that the patients who took the antibiotics as prescribed had fewer cases of pneumonia. Cases of hospitalization of the same group of patients were also lower as compared to those who did not take the antibiotics at all. The study results were released to assist in educating people on the importance of eliminating unnecessary use of antibiotics for the good of public health. It was also aimed at emphasizing the need to provide the best treatment for individual patients based on their current medical condition.

This survey tried to point out through the researchers the reasons as to why doctors are reducing the amount of antibiotics prescribed to patients. Medical research has proven that constant usage of this class of drugs can lead to body resistance in the future. Again the this survey points out that though the physicians are trying to minimize this kind of prescription it should be given out in right quantities so as to avoid compromising the health of patients. Both the under use and over use have side effects; in short moderation is advocated for to ensure the safety and well being of patients.

Sharon B. Meropol, MD, PhD, and her colleagues together with Western Reserve University School of medicine, examined the spread of hospitalization cases as a result of severe drug reactions and community acquired pneumonia on 1,531,091 adults with acute nonspecific respiratory infection diagnosis. She assigned antibiotics to 65 percent of the cases. The results were a few visits from the patients who were given antibiotics compared to the ones not given antibiotics. This shows that as much as the use of antibiotics could be detrimental to the health of a person the correct dosage does have positive medical implications on patients who develop some sort of immunity against respiratory diseases.

According to her it is up to the physician to weigh the risks associated by the antibiotics to the patient and prescribe as to how the physician himself deems fit for that particular patient. This is because it is only through carrying out medical examination on the patient that a medic is able to ascertain the severity of the condition. This is a point that is missed out by the people who prefer buying drugs over the counter without any prescription. One may be having the same symptoms but it may not require the same medication; a fact that can only be proven by a physician.