Antibiotics are medications designed to kill bacteria (bactericidal action) or inhibit their growth (bacteriostatic effect). These drugs act primarily on tissues susceptible to inflammation.
The first antibiotics were obtained from fungi and bacteria. Currently, most antibiotics are produced artificially. In some cases, the doctor recommends the use of two antibiotics. Only certain forms of disease require such combination therapy.
Binding of antibiotics - is it possible?
Most often, the doctor prescribes the use of one antibiotic, that is, monotherapy . In some situations, however, combining two antibiotics is necessary. Sometimes it is necessary to bind even several antibacterial drugs.
Binding of antibiotics is called bound therapy . It has many benefits and is used for many diseases, not only in adults, but also in children.
Unfortunately, antibiotic prescribing by primary care physicians was a household name at one time. This has contributed to the growing drug resistance of many microorganisms , that is, insensitivity to antibiotics.
Antibiotics are a very complex group of drugs with different spectrums and mechanisms of action. However, bacteria are living organisms that, under the influence of frequent use of antibiotics, develop protective mechanisms that can prevent the complete death of bacteria.
Benefits of using two antibiotics
Some antibiotics have a synergistic effect, i.e. interact to produce a specific effect. This combination of antibiotic strengths means that together they have an even greater effect than the sum of the antibiotics used separately. Taking two or more antibiotics can significantly reduce the time of therapy .
Antibiotic binding is considered the treatment of choice in patients with severe infections in whom microbial infection is suspected. The combination of antibiotics, even in empirical therapy, that is, before obtaining the results of microbiological analysis, brings very good results.
This also applies to suspected mixed substrate infections . The cause of the disease is not always a single microbe, and sensitivity to drugs differs between them. Therefore, a combination of antibiotics allows for a faster therapeutic effect.
Another benefit of combining antibiotics is the prevention of antibiotic resistance . If this pathogen is treated for a long time with one antibiotic, it can develop resistance to it. Meanwhile, the use of two antibiotics, one of which is ineffective against this bacterium, can prevent this phenomenon.
Myths and facts about antibiotics
Antibiotic therapy, like vaccinations, is shrouded in myths, fears and stories of how someone lost their hearing after treatment with antibiotics, got a persistent intestinal disorder, and in general, antibiotics are too dangerous because they kill all living things.
Briefly: yes, antibiotics have serious side effects and, if prescribed incorrectly, can actually cause hearing problems, etc. There are drugs prohibited for children and pregnant women, but in general modern drugs are safe if taken as directed. And now in more detail
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A little history:
At the end of the 19th century, several scientists immediately noticed that penicillin fungus mold accelerates the healing of wounds, but its use was difficult - even with short-term storage, the beneficial properties of the mold were lost. In 1938, scientists from Oxford isolated penicillin in its pure form, for which they received the Nobel Prize. And Zinaida Ermolyeva is considered the mother of domestic antibiotic therapy - in 1942 she developed the first Soviet antibiotic, Krustozin, which immediately found use in military hospitals - mortality from bacterial complications fell sharply. Today there are a great variety of antibiotics; there are even drugs with a cytostatic effect that stop the growth of tumor cells.
The most popular question: are antibiotics and alcohol compatible?
Briefly: there are antibiotics that can be taken with alcohol, and there are those where drinking alcohol is contraindicated. In general, it is better not to stop antibiotic therapy because of a glass of wine, but to abstain from alcohol throughout the entire treatment phase.
Read more: it is better to avoid drinking alcohol during treatment, but for most antibiotics it makes no difference whether you drank or not. However, there are exceptions: some drugs slow down the breakdown of alcohol, this increases the concentration of acetaldehyde, causing unpleasant symptoms, including vomiting. Previously, alcoholism was treated with such antibiotics. Where do the roots of this myth come from: during the war, the production of antibiotics was too expensive, they were isolated repeatedly from the urine of patients, and since beer increased the volume of urine and complicated the process, drinking was banned. Another opinion is that venereologists, when prescribing antibiotics, forbade drinking in order, firstly, to punish patients, and secondly, to reduce the likelihood of accidental contacts and further spread of infection.
Conclusion: it is better to give up alcohol so as not to increase the load on the liver and other organs.
Do you have to complete the course to the end?
Complex issue. Modern pharmacology strives to reduce the time of taking the drug while maintaining the effect. Today, single-dose antibiotics have been developed. Previously, it was believed that by not drinking the course to the end, we increase the resistance of microorganisms. But she appears anyway. Studies have confirmed that a short “impact” course is no different in effectiveness from a long one, and resistance is reduced. Most likely, this is due to the fact that resistant bacteria will remain so, but with long-term antibiotic therapy they will also learn to protect themselves from medicinal components, that is, they will gain additional benefits. At the same time, scientists discovered another interesting feature: bacteria from the walls of the cave, which was hidden from people for about 4 million years, were resistant to at least one modern antibiotic! Moreover, antibiotics are a product of the vital activity of microorganisms; bacteria have been using them for 2 billion years.
Not long ago it turned out that bacteria can destroy antibiotics and this feature is fixed at the genetic level, fixed in DNA - this is how superbugs are obtained. In addition, at the source of infection, bacteria are having their own “war” for territory. Some bacteria destroy others, picking up DNA residues that may contain a resistance gene. Does this mean we will all die from superbugs? No. We must not forget that we have an immune system, and scientists are also developing drugs that do not allow the resistance gene to attach to the transport components of bacteria - plasmids - it is the plasmids that are responsible for the transfer of genetic information.
Be sure to complete the course if an antibiotic is prescribed to treat a chronic infection or severe infections. In acute cases, when treating, for example, acute otitis media, if the condition significantly improves, consult a doctor to adjust your medication schedule; perhaps the doctor will stop the antibiotic, or perhaps not. Everything is individual.
Injections are better
No, injections are not better. Previously, the release of dosage forms that would retain the required bioavailability, storage properties and would not be destroyed in the stomach would be problematic, so doctors preferred injections, especially if the infectious process had gone too far. Today, even in hospitals they try to prescribe tablet forms whenever possible. Their bioavailability is practically not inferior to injectable forms, the only thing is that the tablets begin to act a little later. The exceptions are intravenous injections - the antibiotic acts almost instantly and drugs that are destroyed by enzymes. Injections are painful, stressful especially for children, there are the classic risks of infection, and there is also the risk of abscesses and other complications.
Do you take antibiotics for prevention?
Briefly: yes and no.
Taking a pack of pills to avoid getting sick after hypothermia is not prevention. The so-called preventive use of antibiotics is justified if there is a high risk of severe or dangerous infections. Thus, antibiotic prophylaxis is often prescribed in venereology and other areas of medicine. The norm is to take an antibiotic tablet before and after tooth extraction, installation of a dental implant, and during surgical interventions. Antibiotic prophylaxis is prescribed only by a doctor.
Antibiotics are evil for children and pregnant women
You can often find a pregnant woman who tries to treat infectious processes with home methods, believing that the medicine will harm the unborn child. You need to be aware of the risks first of all: the doctor, of course, tries to minimize the use of medications during this period, but pregnant women undergo operations, dental treatment, a lot of other procedures, and refusal of antibiotics where necessary can lead to infection of the fetus including. WHO regularly updates the list of drugs for pregnant women and children. There are recommended, controlled and spare ones. If you are worried, go to the WHO website - approved drugs are highlighted in green, prohibited drugs are in red, controlled and spare drugs are in yellow.
Without a sensitivity test, there is no point in taking antibiotics
In typical cases, conditions of moderate severity and for obvious reasons - some infectious processes have too typical a clinical picture, which is used as a diagnostic criterion; there is no practical sense in an antibiogram.
How an antibiogram is performed: the doctor takes material, for example, from a wound. In the laboratory, a microorganism is isolated that causes an infectious process (this takes at least 2-3 days), then a pure culture is isolated and, roughly speaking, confetti-sized disks are laid out, which are soaked in an antibiotic. Around the most effective ones there will be a maximum clean zone from bacterial colonies. On average, an antibiogram takes 3-7 days to prepare. Treatment ALWAYS begins immediately; during the course of treatment, the antibiotic may be changed, taking into account the antibiogram data. It is not done in all cases, but in the treatment of chronic infections, complex extensive infections. In typical cases, data show that the effectiveness of first-line antibiotics is not much lower than those selected using an antibiogram.
Do I need to take antibiotics for viral infections?
In short: sometimes you need it, sometimes you don’t.
Antibiotics do not act on viruses, but bacterial complications often develop against the background of viral infections. Often the doctor prescribes antibiotics because patients are waiting for appointments, although physical methods are almost always sufficient to treat acute respiratory viral infections, including influenza. Very rarely, an antibiotic for ARVI is prescribed prophylactically if the patient is weakened, has immunodeficiency, extremely low body weight (in children), or old age.
Antibiotics kill all living things and “burn out” the flora
In short: more likely no than yes.
Antibiotics do not kill any microbial cell; they act selectively, taking into account the biochemistry and characteristics of pathogenic agents - the drug either destroys the wall of the microbial cell, or stops reproduction, or acts on another target. The antibiotic only partially affects “its own” people, but already 3-5 days after the end of the course, and for the majority, after 1-2 days, the intestinal microflora is restored without additional intake of probiotics. There is an opinion that probiotics are useless: in case of serious violations of the flora, they do not help, and a conditionally healthy person recovers on his own after a course of antibiotics. Stories that someone once took a loading dose of an antibiotic and now has dysbiosis for life are fairy tales. But if you want to speed up the restoration of flora, drink kefir.
Antibiotics spoil the immune system and a healthy body is able to cope with infections on its own
Briefly: yes and no
Indeed, for some infections, the doctor does not prescribe an antibiotic. For example, for deep abrasions that have become inflamed, dressings and regular washing are enough, antibiotic therapy for bronchitis and pharyngitis is not always prescribed. But the body cannot cope with all infections on its own. Peritonitis, in general, occurs because you couldn’t handle it yourself. Antibiotics do not affect the immune system: the medicine works separately, and the immune cells work separately. Standard antibiotics do not affect the immune system, but there are antibiotics that are initially cytostatic, and they are called antitumor, and for a number of primary immunodeficiencies, antibacterial drugs are taken for several years.
Express replies:
Do antibiotics damage the liver? No. There are drugs that multiply the side effects of each other. Tell your doctor what medications you are taking so he can choose safe antibiotics.
How to drink it? Read the instructions or ask your doctor. Usually antibiotics are taken 1-2 hours after meals with water. You can’t use milk, kefir, jelly or anything else - the active substance is destroyed.
How to recycle? Expired medications should not be flushed down the drain - they have their own life there, which creates resistance to the drugs. Some cities have collection points for expired medications; if they are not available, pour the medications with sand or soil into a plastic container and dispose of them with household waste. This will reduce the risk of children or animals eating the pills.
Antibiotics should not be given to patients with allergies. Can. If an antibiotic provokes an attack, which most often ends at the level of urticaria and is stopped by a single dose of antihistamines, then another one is selected. Abscesses and purulent inflammations are much more dangerous than short-term urticaria. Modern drugs are synthetic and extremely rarely cause allergies; allergy symptoms often occur against the background of massive death of microorganisms.
Modern meat is laced with antibiotics and is dangerous . No. Antibiotics have always been used in animal husbandry; they in no way affect the human body. There are acceptable standards, farmers are obliged to comply with them.
Conclusion : the prescription of antibiotics must be justified, and the duration of the course is selected individually, taking into account the severity of the condition, danger and characteristics of the infectious process. When a doctor prescribes the same regimen for everyone, this is not entirely correct; drugs need to be selected individually - this concerns the dose, frequency of administration and other features. In our clinic you will find excellent specialists who select treatment in such a way as to cure you in the shortest possible time and without delayed risks to the body. We issue sick leave certificates, we have our own laboratory where you can test for sensitivity to antibiotics, including
