Oct 02, 2016 · So why is it that your doctor recommends finishing your course of antibiotics? It's because taking them regularly until the prescription is complete helps ensure that all of the illness-causing bacteria are killed or prevented from multiplying. Even if your symptoms go away, the bacteria may still be present in your body.
It is extremely important to complete an antibiotic course. On the other hand though, if we complete our antibiotic doses, we can ensure that even the most resilient bacteria is overthrown, there are no mutant or antibiotic-resistant bacteria thriving in our body and all the chances of relapse have been wiped clean.
Jul 19, 2012 · Finishing an antibiotics course is extremely important, even when you are feeling better. This is because most simple bacteria illnesses tend to respond quite quickly to antibiotics. For infections like ear infections and strep throat as soon as you start feeling well, it at times becomes difficult to remember to finish the medication that has a whole week left.
Sep 06, 2015 · The basic reason why they prescribe a complete course despite seeing your fast recovery is that they want to ensure that your body doesn’t get attacked by the same disease again. If you don’t finish your antibiotic course, then you may soon suffer from the same disease again and this is actually very dangerous for your long term health.
How Antibiotics work. Any antibiotic dose, in its first couple of days, wipes out the weaklings and weakens the middlemen. Generally, by day 3-4, most of the middlemen are also killed and one starts feeling better as the majority of the bacteria have been defeated.
These bacteria cells are also more often than not, resistant to the antibiotic now that they have survived mild doses of it. The condition too worsens once the disease relapses and with the bacteria now resistant to the antibiotic, curing the disease becomes all the more difficult.
This is because most simple bacteria illnesses tend to respond quite quickly to antibiotics. For infections like ear infections and strep throat as soon as you start feeling well, it at times becomes difficult to remember to finish the medication ...
What happens is, when the bacterias multiply they randomly change their DNA, thus making them resistant to antibiotics. Thus, when they multiply one can have a host of bacterias, which no longer respond to the antibiotics. Some bacteria might also do things, which they are not supposed to do.
Therefore, the longer the bacteria survives, the likelier it is that it will become resistant to the drugs. In a bid to kill the infection, one has to make sure all the bacteria causing the infection is killed.
They accept this idea would need more research. image copyright. Getty Images. Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, leader of the Royal College of General Practitioners, says while it is important to take new evidence into account, she "cannot advocate widespread behaviour change on the results of just one study".
Prof Martin Llewelyn, from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, together with colleagues, argues that using antibiotics for longer than necessary can increase the risk of resistance.