Antibiotics Resistance... Handle with Care
Yoshith Perera
Just the other day, I had a conversation with my 85 year old grandmother about the medication that was prescribed to her. She was suffering from a wicked strain of the flu and it had resulted in a secondary bacterial infection. The prescribed antibiotics were beginning to help her! However as she started to make her way to a full recovery, she asked me if she could discontinue the course of antibiotics. Explaining to her the repercussions of
antibiotic resistance was my challenge. As human beings, we constantly ask ourselves “why bother” or “what’s in it for me”? The simple response to the narrative was because you will end up creating a bug that’s harder to kill with the antibiotics we have available to us. And the potential worst case scenario of this situation would be that you pass on this bug to a few other people.
“Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria that cause illness become resistant to the antibiotic drugs used to treat them. The threat of antibiotic resistance is that infections (such as pneumonia, strep throat or infections associated with minor injuries) could become untreatable. “
Public Health Agency of Canada
Stick to the antibiotic regime as prescribed and you make a recovery as predicted. Rebel against your scheduled antibiotics course and consider being administered in to a hospital for a stronger course of therapy. This usually translates to a hefty bill and risking being out of commission for a while longer.
Antibiotics are powerful medications used to combat bacterial infections, which means they are powerless against viral bugs. This week from the 16th to the 22nd of November has been declared Antibiotic Awareness Week by the World Health Organization (WHO). If you’d like to test your knowledge regarding this topic, simply click on
this link to try your luck in an interactive QUIZ administered by the WHO.
The government of Canada continues to monitor, prevent, limit and control the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. In a September 2013 report on infectious diseases published the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Chief Public Health Officer had this to say...
“While we have made great progress, challenges remain and work is ongoing. It is clear to me that continuous improvement in public health - by everyone - will be required throughout the 21st century to sustain our impressive record of battling infectious diseases.”
Dr. David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada (2005–2013)
However there’s always something we can all do while we deal with infections in the frontlines. Here are a few strategies to preventing and controlling antibiotic resistance in your immediate environment:
- Never use left-over antibiotics.
- Refrain from sharing your antibiotics with others, even your family members.
- ALWAYS take the FULL PRESCRIPTION unless you suffer drug side effects.
- Only use antibiotics when prescribed by a certified health professional.
- Keep your vaccinations up to date.
- PREVENT catching or spreading a nasty bug by regularly washing hands, practicing good food hygiene and avoid close contacts with sick individuals.
Despite our race to better understand and control the microbial world, we need to be prepared against these tiny pathogens in the best way possible. Part of our approach is keeping each other informed and advising our family members in an appropriate manner. Antibiotics will only continue to be precious tools if we handle them with care. It is definitely a responsibility we all share.
Yoshith Perera
November 17, 2015
