Flu season in the UK usually occurs from October to May or December to March. Coughs and colds often accompany flu. Flu is one of the respiratory infections that seem to gather momentum in the colder months of the year . When you get the flu, do you take antibiotics?
Are antibiotics good for flu?
Antibiotics treat various illnesses, but they are recommended for bacterial infections. People should understand that flu is a viral infection that does not respond to antibiotics, as the medication cannot kill viruses.
Doctors recommend several drugs to treat viral infections, and in the case of flu, as well as the common cold, most people will get better after the infection has run its course.
Understanding antibiotics
Antibiotics are powerful drugs designed to slow down bacterial growth or destroy the bacteria. But it would help if you kept in mind that antibiotics work only for specific diseases and illnesses. Most importantly, you need a prescription to purchase antibiotics. You can click here to buy antibiotics online but only if you have a valid prescription signed by a practicing GP.
Therefore, a sick person should be particular when talking with their GP about their symptoms, so the doctor can better identify the illness’s cause. The doctor should figure out if the sickness is viral or bacterial.
Here is an example:
A patient with a consistently high fever of about 101.5 degrees, suffering from severe facial pain and has nasal discharge, may be suffering from sinus infection due to bacterial infection. Typically, sinus infections are from viruses, but if the symptoms the patient experiences persist for several days without any sign of improvement, the doctor may consider it as a bacterial infection. If a patient suffers from high fever accompanied by pain in the ear may be showing symptoms of bacterial ear infection, in which case, using antibiotics is the more likely treatment.
However, patients should not always think that any infection is bacterial. For example, when you have a low-grade fever and stuffy head, it’s more likely that you have a viral infection.
It would be best if you always worked with your doctor to determine what causes your illness so that the GP can prescribe the right treatment.
Taking unnecessary antibiotics poses health risks
The common belief is that bacteria become resistant to antibiotics when the person misuses the medication. When bacteria become resistant to specific antibiotics over time, it will become harder to treat a bacterial infection. It will be more challenging to treat illness because the doctor needs to identify new combinations for the treatment to be effective. In some cases, the option is to increase the dosage or use more powerful drugs, all of which may lead to more health risks.
Do not use old antibiotics
If your doctor previously prescribed some antibiotics for the treatment of a bacterial infection, it does not mean that you can use the same when you have another illness or infection. Each type of medicine is designed to treat specific illnesses. So, always keep in mind that with antibiotics, one-size-fits-all does not apply.
Be careful when using antibiotics. Follow your doctor’s instructions when using the medication and buy them only from registered pharmacies.
