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Day in Health
by Lisa Collier Cool
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Amid headlines about untreatable nightmare bacteria, experts warn that overuse of antibiotics, particularly for kids, has created a looming antibiotic apocalypse. New medical guidelines and a public health campaign by the CDC highlight the extreme importance of avoiding needless use of these drugs, which often do more harm than good. Its been common for parents to demand antibiotics for every sniffle and ear infectionand for doctors to write a prescription without thinking twice about the potential dangers of misusing the medications. In fact, the average American child receives 10 to 20 courses of antibiotics by age 18. Whats the right way to protect kids healthand how can parents tell if antibiotics are actually needed? Heres a look at what you need to know. At-Home Remedies That Really Work
Antibiotic Dangers
Among the hazards of improperly prescribed antibiotics are these: Increased risk for a potentially life-threatening antibiotic-related infection called C. difficile. Rates of this superbug, which kills 14,000 Americans a year, have recently hit an all-time high, according to the CDC. Deaths from C. difficile, which causes severe diarrhea that can lead to a sometimes fatal problem called toxic mega-colon, have soared by 400 percent since 2000. Drug side effects. As I recently reported, its been estimated that over 140,000 emergency visits are made to the hospital each year due to antibiotic-associated side effects, with allergic reactions being the most common. Minimizing unnecessary antibiotic use by even a small percentage could significantly reduce the immediate and direct risks of drug-related adverse events in individual patients, a 2007 study showed. Childhood obesity. Farmers have long used antibiotics to fatten up livestockand there are decades of research showing similar effects in peoplea significant concern given the childhood obesity epidemic. More than a half century ago, a randomized study published in Nutrition reported that young Navy recruits who were given daily doses of broadspectrum antibiotics, such as chlortetracycline or penicillin, to prevent strep infections gained 4.8 pounds over 7 weeks, compared to a 2.7 pound gain in recruits given a placebo. Eradicating beneficial gut bacteria. In the early 20th century, helicobacter pylori was the dominant stomach microbe, Dr. Martin Blaser, a microbiologist professor at New York University Langone Medical Center, recently reported in Nature. Today, fewer than 6 percent of US kids carry the organism. While that may not sound like a problem, given that H. pylori raises risk for stomach ulcers and gastric cancer, Dr. Blaser has discovered that killing off this bug dramatically changes how the stomach works, tricking the body into overeating.
are given unnecessary antibiotics, and as a result, the bacteria floating around in our bodies get exposed to those antibiotics and evolve, gaining resistance to even our most powerful antibiotics. And the superbugs keep getting scarier. Not only are there recent reports of worldwide spread of completely drug resistant infections from E. coli and related bacteria striking hospital and nursing home patients, but there are now cases of nearly untreatable STDs, including drug resistant gonorrhea in the United States. Fast forward a few years and many fear there will be no life preservers left to toss to our kids, at which point we could be back where we were 100 years ago, watching people die from what are currently nuisance illnesses easily cured with a pill, the Laheys write. What Every Parent Should Know About Antibiotics and Superbugs
102 or above) and facial pain lasting at least 3 or 4 days; symptoms that persist for ten or more days without any improvement, or new or worsening symptoms. To tell if a child has pneumonia, which can be a legitimate use of antibiotics, doctors need to do a chest x-ray. Otherwise, this condition can be confused with bronchitis, which doesnt require these drugs. If the pediatrician wants to prescribe antibiotics for any childhood ailment, always ask why and if there is any other treatmentincluding watchful waiting. If antibiotics are legitimately prescribed, always make sure your child takes the full course of medication, even if the symptoms clear up. Incomplete treatment may lead to tomorrows superbugs.