Usage of Antibiotics is very high.
I have seen Doctors prescribing Antibiotics as soon as you finished narrating your symptoms.
People also have a habit of buying the medicine across the counter.
Remember, Antibiotic is to be used very sparingly and the body should be allowed to take care of the infections on its own.
If the infection persists, if it is an infection at all, care should be exercised in taking the antibiotics, under the advice of a Doctor.
Check the expiry date of the Drug.
Over usage will result in your system not responding.
The side effects of Antibiotics are, in some case, very severe.
Read on.
‘Misuse
This poster from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Get Smart” campaign, intended for use in doctor’s offices and other healthcare facilities, warns that antibiotics do not work for viral illnesses such as the common cold.
The first rule of antibiotics is try not to use them, and the second rule is try not to use too many of them.—Paul L. Marino, The ICU Book
Inappropriate antibacterial treatment and overuse of antibiotics have contributed to the emergence of antibacterial-resistant bacteria. Self prescription of antibacterials and their use as growth promoters in agriculture are additional examples of misuse.
Many antibacterials are frequently prescribed to treat symptoms or diseases that do not respond to antibacterial therapy or are likely to resolve without treatment, or incorrect or sub-optimal antibacterials are prescribed for certain bacterial infections
The overuse of antibacterials, like penicillin and erythromycin, have been associated with emerging antibacterial resistance since the 1950s.
Widespread usage of antibacterial drugs in hospitals has also been associated with increases in bacterial strains and species that no longer respond to treatment with the most common antibacterials.
Common forms of antibacterial misuse include excessive use of prophylactic antibiotics in travelers and failure of medical professionals to prescribe the correct dosage of antibacterials on the basis of the patient’s weight and history of prior use. Other forms of misuse include failure to take the entire prescribed course of the antibacterial, incorrect dosage and administration, or failure to rest for sufficient recovery. Inappropriate antibacterial treatment, for example, is the prescription of antibacterials to treat viral infections such as the common cold. One study onrespiratory tract infections found “physicians were more likely to prescribe antibiotics to patients who appeared to expect them”. Multifactorial interventions aimed at both physicians and patients can reduce inappropriate prescription of antibiotics.‘…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibacterial
Most antibiotics and antimicrobial medications are prescribed to adults based on broad dosage recommendations that do not take individual body mass into account, a system that is outdated, according to an editorial published in the current issue of the British medical journal The Lancet. Whereas children’s antibiotic dosing is generally calculated according to body mass, for adults, no such system is in place, and for those drugs that do have body mass specific guidelines for dosing, adherence is “inadequate,” according to the authors. Drs. Matthew E. Falagas and Drosos Karageorgopoulos of the Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Athens point out that, under current practices, a 200 lb., 6’2″ man (90kg, 1.9m) diagnosed with pneumonia would receive the same dose of antibiotics as a 124 lb., 5′ woman (56kg, 1.5m) with the same condition, despite their dramatically different body sizes. While dosage according to body mass is standard in anesthetics, pediatrics, oncology and other fields, when it comes to antibiotics and antimicrobials the dosing guidelines are too broad, the authors argue, and may undermine a medications efficacy. What’s more, in the face of both widespread obesity and the increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistance, tailoring dosage for optimal results is increasingly important.
http://healthland.time.com/2010/01/14/should-weight-factor-into-antibiotic-dosage/#ixzz1PKE5hFdh
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