If you stop taking your antibiotics early, the bacteria causing your infection may not have been completely cleared, and your infection could return. It’s also possible that these remaining bacteria could develop resistance to the antibiotic. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern.
What danger will result from not completing a course of prescribed antibiotics? THE danger to the individual is that the infection will recur, and will be more difficult to treat when it does.
Should Patients Take the Full Course of Antibiotics? New research calls into question long-accepted guidelines for antibiotic use. When prescribed antibiotics, healthcare professionals advise patients to take the full course of the medication to ensure that the infection is properly treated.
The kind of antibiotics prescribed by your doctor, and the length of the course, are based on the best evidence for what will kill all of the bacteria. By cutting treatment short, you increase the chances of the existing bacteria mutating and becoming resistant, therefore making it harder to treat the next time around.
As we don’t know who can safely stop treatment early, making your own judgement could result in you falling ill again. The kind of antibiotics prescribed by your doctor, and the length of the course, are based on the best evidence for what will kill all of the bacteria.
By cutting treatment short, you increase the chances of the existing bacteria mutating and becoming resistant, therefore making it harder to treat the next time around.
According to the World Health Organisation, stopping treatment early involves the risk of not getting all of the bacteria that made you unwell killed off. As we don’t know who can safely stop treatment early, making your own judgement could result in you falling ill again.
Here’s the bottom line 1 Antibiotics are a limited resource, and they should be used wisely and selectively. 2 Antibiotics may also have serious side effects, such as the major intestinal ailment Clostridium difficile colitis. 3 There is no evidence that longer courses prevent the development of antibiotic resistance. In fact, just the opposite may be true. 4 Instructions about length of antibiotic therapy are sometimes arbitrary, and some patients may recover faster and need fewer days of antibiotics than others. 5 You should still follow your doctor’s instructions about the length of antibiotic therapy. 6 If you are feeling better and think that you may not need the entire course, be sure to ask your doctor first. 7 Antibiotic administration is not necessary for all infections. In particular, most upper respiratory infections are viral, and do not respond to antibiotics.
Doctors are studying new clinical tools to help limit unnecessary antibiotic use. One of these is a blood test called procalcitonin. Levels of procalcitonin rise in patients with serious bacterial infections. In patients with viral infections, which do not respond to antibiotics, procalcitonin levels are suppressed.
In patients with viral infections, which do not respond to antibiotics, procalcitonin levels are suppressed. Currently, procalcitonin levels are used in the hospital setting to help decide whether patients with flares of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or pneumonia are likely to need antibiotics or not.
Today, we know that patients with bloodstream infections may require several weeks of antibiotics for cure, and those with active tuberculosis need many months of multiple antibiotics. But these patients are not representative of most people who receive antibiotics today.
Antibiotics are a limited resource, and they should be used wisely and selectively. Antibiotics may also have serious side effects, such as the major intestinal ailment Clostridium difficile colitis . There is no evidence that longer courses prevent the development of antibiotic resistance. In fact, just the opposite may be true.
If you are feeling better and think that you may not need the entire course, be sure to ask your doctor first. Antibiotic administration is not necessary for all infections. In particular, most upper respiratory infections are viral, and do not respond to antibiotics.
Antibiotic resistance is an emerging threat to public health. If the arsenal of effective antibiotics dwindles, treating infection becomes more difficult. Conventional wisdom has long held that stopping a course of antibiotics early may be a major cause of antibiotic resistance. But is this really supported by the evidence?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Trusted Source. , roughly 1 in 3 antibiotic prescriptions outside of a hospital setting are unnecessary. Total “inappropriate” antibiotic use, which includes incorrect dosing and duration, is nearly 50 percent.
Doctors would have to convey a message to patients that is both safe and effective. A message such as “take until you feel better,” is somewhat ambiguous and could create problems in an outpatient setting. “What people are tolerant of in terms of symptoms can matter,” said Olden.
No Need to Take All Your Antibiotics, Researchers Say. Scientists say the ‘complete the course’ recommendation isn’t backed by science and may be encouraging antibiotic resistance. Some doctors agree.
Researchers argue that not only is the “complete the course” message unnecessary, it is actively contributing to the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — not preventing it.
An article in the BMJ argues that contrary to long-given advice, it is unnecessary to make sure you finish all the antibiotics you’re prescribed. The article sparked debate among experts and more worryingly widespread confusion among the general public, who are still getting to grips with what they need to do to stem antibiotic resistance.
If the latter is true, the persistent population in your body that is causing your recurrent infection could well be resistant to that first set of antibiotics, meaning those antibiotics may well be useless against your infection. Antibiotic resistance is about survival of the fittest.