Types of antibiotics for cold: Antibiotics and Colds: When Do Antibiotics Work?

30.07.202311.06.2023 by alexxlab

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Antibiotics and Colds: When Do Antibiotics Work?

Why Taking Antibiotics for a Cold Can Be a Problem

It might not seem like you’re doing any harm if you take a medicine even though it doesn’t treat your cold, but it can. When people take antibiotics when they don’t have to, over time, the medicine becomes less effective. Someday you’ll really need one because you’ve got an illness caused by a bacteria, but it won’t work.

The reason has to do with the bacteria themselves. They can be sneaky. When they come into contact over and over with antibiotics, they may change in order to survive.

These new strains are “resistant” to some types of antibiotics. If you get an infection with one of these bacteria, your doctor may need to try several types of drugs until they find one that works. You could get a lot sicker while you wait for the one that can treat you.

Antibiotics also have side effects, some very serious. Minor problems include dizziness, vomiting, yeast infections and diarrhea, More serious problems include allergic reactions, difficulty breathing and damage to the colon as the result of infection growing in the body.

When Antibiotics Can Help

When they’re used the right way, antibiotics can save lives. For example, they can treat bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, ear infection, and pinkeye — as long as they’re caused by bacteria.

Sometimes, you get infected with a bacteria after you’ve got a cold. Some signs of bacterial sinus infection are pain around your face and eyes that may get worse when you bend over. You might also cough up thick, yellow or green mucus.

These symptoms may also occur with a cold. But if they last for more than a week or are severe, you may have a bacterial infection and need antibiotics.

Only your doctor can prescribe antibiotics. Talk to them if you think you might need them.

Take Antibiotics Responsibly

Here are three things to remember when you’re thinking about taking antibiotics:

Listen to your doctor. They’ll let you know if you’re sick because of a virus or a bacteria and will prescribe antibiotics if you need them.

Follow instructions carefully. Finish all the medicine your doctor asks you to take and stick to the schedule. If there are pills left when your treatment ends, don’t save them “just in case” you might get sick later on.

Don’t share medicine. Never give antibiotics to anyone else, and don’t take someone else’s drugs. They’re not the same. When you need one, it’s important that you take the right medicine for your condition.

Do antibiotics help fight common colds? – InformedHealth.org

Last Update: October 8, 2020; Next update: 2023.

It doesn’t make sense to use antibiotics in the treatment of simple common colds: They don’t free up a stuffy nose or make the cold go away any faster, but they often cause side effects.

Simple common colds – with symptoms such as coughing, a stuffy nose and sometimes a mild fever – are usually caused by viruses. They almost always go away on their own within about two weeks, and often start to get better after just a few days.

Because antibiotics only fight bacteria, and not viruses, they’re usually ineffective against colds. Sometimes a cold may lead to a bacterial infection, though. In that case, antibiotics would have a benefit if they were able to prevent that kind of infection. But because colds almost always clear up on their own without any serious problems, and antibiotics often cause side effects, the pros and cons of using antibiotics need to be carefully considered.

To get a better idea of the advantages and disadvantages of treating simple common colds with antibiotics, researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration – an international research network – specifically looked for studies in that area. They found a total of eleven studies involving otherwise healthy adults, teenagers and children.

Poor outcome for antibiotics used in simple common colds

The studies showed that antibiotics have no benefits in the treatment of simple common colds. Regardless of whether they had taken antibiotics or not, the participants’ colds lasted a similar amount of time. But about 1 out of 10 people who took antibiotics had side effects – usually diarrhea, nausea and other stomach or bowel problems. Other common side effects of antibiotics include skin rashes and, in women, vaginal thrush.

The researchers concluded that there’s no good reason for the wide use of antibiotics in the treatment of simple common colds. Antibiotics should only be considered as a treatment option if a bacterial infection has developed as a result of the cold. But this only happens very rarely.

There is also another good reason for being cautious with antibiotics: Using them too much to treat minor illnesses can make bacteria resistant (unresponsive) to the antibiotics over time. The antibiotics may then no longer be effective in the treatment of more serious infections.

Sources

Kenealy T, Arroll B. Antibiotics for the common cold and acute purulent rhinitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013; (6): CD000247. [PMC free article: PMC7044720] [PubMed: 23733381]
IQWiG health information is written with the aim of helping
people understand the advantages and disadvantages of the main treatment options and health
care services.
Because IQWiG is a German institute, some of the information provided here is specific to the
German health care system. The suitability of any of the described options in an individual
case can be determined by talking to a doctor. We do not offer individual consultations.
Our information is based on the results of good-quality studies. It is written by a
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Are antibiotics always the most appropriate type of fight against SARS and influenza?

We are answering a question that worries many.

Autumn, winter and early spring are the time of colds. Temperature fluctuations, slush and rain, lack of ultraviolet radiation and vitamins affect: our weakened organisms become easy prey for viruses.

Acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) are a group of diseases caused by a wide variety of viruses. There are more than 200 types of them. However, despite the variety of pathogens, the manifestations of a cold are in many ways similar: fever, chills, headache, weakness, body aches, runny nose, sore and sore throat, cough and hoarseness.

How much medicine does it take to cure a cold?

To get rid of SARS, it would be ideal to hit the target directly – the viruses. However, many antiviral drugs do not have the necessary evidence base and the mechanism of their action is not well understood. In addition, in most cases, the body can cope with the infection itself, you only need to help it – alleviate the symptoms and general condition.

Buying in a pharmacy and taking everything at once – antipyretic, analgesic, vasoconstrictor, antiviral, expectorant and immunostimulating drugs – is almost pointless. When taken together, these drugs can interact – enhance or weaken the effect of each other.

When the disease has already begun, it is important to deal with the symptoms. Complex preparations, for example, Theraflu, help to cope with fever, headache, body aches, nasal congestion, sneezing, runny nose and other symptoms of SARS. Thanks to the combination of several active ingredients, Theraflu fights against severe symptoms of flu and colds. Theraflu from the first day of the disease – to improve well-being and quality of life.

Antibiotics for colds?

Antibiotics are not needed to treat colds and respiratory problems – they do not work on viruses. The doctor prescribes antibacterial drugs if the body’s defenses are weakened and the cold is complicated by a bacterial infection – such a complication can lead to a significant deterioration in the condition.

Please note!

Only a doctor can prescribe antibiotics: he knows exactly which antibiotics to use in each specific case.
Antibiotics should not be taken “for prophylaxis”: they do not cure colds and do not protect against bacterial complications of SARS ¹ .
Antibiotics can provoke the development of a fungal infection, which, against the background of a decrease in immunity, can cause severe illness ¹ .
Illiterate use of antibacterial drugs leads to the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to them ¹ . Dealing with them can be much more difficult than with viruses. And now the main thing. If you feel that your condition is deteriorating rapidly, dizziness, shortness of breath, a feeling of lack of air, a strong heartbeat and interruptions in the work of the heart, do not try to cope with situations on your own (for example, use non-drug folk methods) – immediately contact your doctor to “banal” a cold did not develop into a serious illness. ²

Is it harmful to take antibiotics for flu and covid, December 2022 – December 10, 2022

Antibiotics can only be taken if there are convincing signs of a bacterial infection

Illustration: Yuri Orlov / NGS.RU

900 02 It’s SARS season, and This means that people get sick with different types of infections, including coronavirus and influenza. What exactly is not always understood, and the treatment is often the patients themselves, and some doctors choose the standard one. If enough bed rest, vitamins, plenty of fluids and other symptomatic treatment, this is good, but some decide to immediately connect the “heavy artillery” – antibiotics. And you can’t do that. NGS medical observer Maria Tishchenko learned from experts why in most cases it is not just not necessary to drink antibiotics, but dangerous, what it leads to, is it true that the problem of bacterial resistance to various drugs has recently worsened and how the pandemic has worsened the situation.

Important! Remember that viral diseases, in particular covid, are not treated with antibiotics. Antibacterial drugs can be prescribed by a doctor, but only if there are convincing signs of a bacterial infection!

Unfortunately, now there are cases when some doctors continue to prescribe antibiotics in the general treatment regimen for SARS or covid immediately, just in case (which cannot be done), or if the temperature lasts for several days. Or patients themselves self-medicate and mistakenly prescribe antibiotics for themselves.

They can be prescribed by a doctor if there are convincing signs of a bacterial infection (clinical manifestations or laboratory-confirmed – we talked about this in more detail here).

This leads to the formation of resistance (resistance) in bacteria to drugs, which means that the next time they are used, the effectiveness decreases.

— The problem of antibiotic resistance is one of the key ones not only for our health care, but for all the inhabitants of the planet. According to WHO experts, about 1.27 million people a year die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, says an internist at the Zdravitsa Family Medicine Center Varvara Veretyuk.

Infectionist, chief physician of the clinical diagnostic laboratory “Invitro-Siberia” Andrey Pozdnyakov says that the problem of antibiotic resistance of microorganisms did not arise yesterday or a year ago, it is almost as old as the invention of the first antibiotics:

— In fact, this is the eternal race of “defense and attack.” Pharmacology “attacks” bacteria with antibiotics, bacteria, in turn, “defend” against these attacks by acquiring resistance mechanisms and spreading them in their population. If there were no mechanisms for the acquisition of drug resistance in microbiology, there would be no need to develop more and more new antimicrobials. 1-2 would be enough for each group of bacteria.

But, according to him, in the last 10-15 years, the problem has worsened due to the fact that, firstly, effective classes of antimicrobial drugs have not been launched into practical healthcare. And there is no class of such drugs undergoing clinical trials.

Secondly, due to the widespread use of antimicrobial drugs not only and not so much in medicine, but also in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and the food industry, even microbes that were previously sensitive to the widest range of conventional outpatient drugs have become resistant to antibiotic therapy.

During the pandemic, many people across the country bought antibiotics for future use, just in case, and there was a shortage of some drugs

Photo: Alexander Oshchepkov / NGS.RU

orei Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Previously, the disease caused by this microbe and quite widespread in the world was treated with any drugs, including penicillin, the first and oldest invented antibiotic with a fairly narrow spectrum of action.

Andrei Pozdnyakov explains that in recent decades, gonococcus has become increasingly multidrug resistant to almost all common drug groups, including penicillins, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones and macrolides, as well as options for “last line therapy”, in particular cephalosporins.

However, the disease is not rare: according to WHO, in 2020 alone, 82 million new cases of the disease were officially registered in the world.

— Why did this happen? A “shameful” disease that is easier to treat quietly than to see a doctor; easy access to antibiotics, their wrong choice, poor quality of drugs and irrational use – insufficient or, conversely, excessive course. All this was layered on the genetic mutations of the gonococcus in the body. Hence, “supergonococcus” (officially, gonorrhea superbacterium) is actively spreading around the world and is resistant to almost all antimicrobial drugs, explains Andrey Pozdnyakov.

Varvara Veretyuk gives an example of pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae), which caused more than 40% of respiratory tract infections in patients hospitalized in the Novosibirsk Region internal medicine departments.

– He had reduced sensitivity or resistance to ceftriaxone in 1.5-10% of cases, to erythromycin – in 13.5% of cases, to levofloxacin – in 96. 4-100% of cases, to clarithromycin – in 18.27% of cases cases, to tetracycline – in 42.3% of cases. Resistance to azithromycin and clarithromycin in this bacterium in 2018 was 16.4%, and reduced sensitivity to levofloxacin was noted in 100% of cases.

But, Andrei Pozdnyakov emphasizes, perhaps the most global problem of antibiotic resistance is gram-negative opportunistic microflora (OPM). There are a great many of these bacteria – Klebsiella, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas (including the infamous Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their genus) and many other families and genera.

All these microbes are common in the external environment and already have resistance to various adverse factors, that is, they can change and adapt, while they can colonize (populate) human skin and mucous membranes. Their task is to “survive and not interfere.” Almost all people are UPM carriers.

In a normal state, an organism with an adequately functioning immune system and a well-developed normoflora (beneficial microbes) will not allow them to multiply and have any negative impact.

— But if a person becomes seriously ill, then the immune system temporarily weakens control over the UPM, directing all its forces to fight the disease that has occurred. Accordingly, UPM can begin to multiply. Plus, the use of antibiotics to treat the disease will destroy part of the normal flora. And UPM adapts and acquires resistance factors from this drug. If this person gets to the hospital, then part of the flora migrates into the external environment, says the infectious disease specialist.

It turns out that in the external environment there is a UPM colony that is resistant to some antibiotic. If this happens in some closed space once, two or three times – it is not critical. If this happens regularly and often, then as a result, in this space there is a bunch of different microorganisms with the ability to adapt and with already acquired resistance to certain antibiotics.

— Where are there such secret rooms? Most often, these are hospitals, intensive care units and intensive care units. Naturally, disinfecting measures are regularly carried out there with substances that are quite aggressive for microflora. But the ability of UPM to adapt often withstands this treatment with antiseptics. Bonus: different species and even genera of bacteria are able to exchange resistance factors with each other, notes Andrey Pozdnyakov.

This is becoming more and more of a problem for physicians. Diseases caused by such resistant microbes are difficult to treat.

Antibiotics cannot be used with coronavirus, because viruses are not treated with this group of drugs

Photo: Alexander Oshchepkov / NGS.RU

The covid pandemic has contributed to the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. In this opinion, the experts are unanimous.

Andrey Pozdnyakov highlights the first year of the pandemic in particular:

– Panic, lack of information about the disease, the severity of the infection, lung damage clinically similar to pneumonia of an unknown nature (possibly layers of secondary flora), a pronounced increase in C-reactive protein, which is traditionally considered a marker of a bacterial infection, in severe patients – all this led to the active use of antibiotics, most often without indications, in various combinations, with long courses.

Accordingly, in hospitals, the formation of antimicrobial resistance of nosocomial flora has increased, its spectrum has expanded.

— All this was increased a hundredfold by panic among the population. The result is the massive use of antimicrobial drugs in viral infections. As a result, we received a decrease in the sensitivity of microorganisms to aminopenicillins and cephalosporins. Azithromycin seems to have remained a more or less effective drug for the treatment of diseases caused by microbes that do not constantly circulate in the human population. For example, the causative agent of borreliosis. For the treatment of bacterial infections caused by widespread groups of microbes, it can no longer be used, Andrey Pozdnyakov is sure.

— The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately led to an increase in the use of antibiotics, especially azithromycin and levofloxacin. Semi-synthetic penicillins (amoxicillin) and cephalosporins are also often prescribed. By the way, one of the problems voiced by WHO is the resistance of the causative agent of gonorrhea to cephalosporins just in connection with irrational antibiotic therapy. There is a database that collects data on antibiotic resistance,” notes Varvara Veretyuk.

Unfortunately, there are no new groups of drugs in practical use, experts note.

“Developments are underway, but, apparently, they are not successful enough… The problem remains,” Andrey Pozdnyakov emphasizes.

Varvara Veretyuk says there is evidence of promising drugs that can interfere with the use of iron by bacteria. But the problem is that our body also needs iron for life. Therefore, there are such difficulties with the development of new antibiotics, because the drug must be not only effective, but also safe.

— After 2015, there were no new antibiotics yet, before that there were several drugs in 90’s. So our arsenal of weapons against bacteria remains rather modest, and it is better to protect it.