What are antibiotics?

This year is the very first year I took antibiotics. I have never taken any antibiotics before in my life. So, I didn't know much about antibiotics until this year.

Now I recalled seeing a particular colleague of mine (when I was working in one factory) who took antibiotics several times for minor reasons. Everytime, she had a runny nose (I assumed she had the common cold), she would see a doctor. When she came back to the office, I would see her taking some pills which look to me like antibiotics.

Similarly, everytime I see the doctor for the common cold (since I want to get the MC...hehe), the doctor would prescribed some antibiotics to me. Luckily I did not eat those antibiotics as I realised recently that antibiotics only work against bacterial infection NOT virus infection. The common cold is caused by the rhinovirus infection.

Because of the widespread use and misuse of antibiotics in modern society, bacteria are constantly exposed to these antibiotics. As a result, many bacteria have already developed resistance to the drugs' effects, just like the Superbug NDM-1. Just like I had blogged in my earlier post, I'm afraid we are going back prior to the 20th century before the invention of penicillin/antibiotics due to the increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics. We are just going back to square one.

Antibiotics must be taken strictly as prescribed to avoid bacterial resistance and a dose must not be missed. For example, those on TB treatment have to take up to 8 tablets of antibiotics per day for 6 months. A dose must never never never be missed or else the mycobacterium tuberculosis will grow stronger and start to develop resistance against those antibiotics. As a result, the TB could turned into MDR-TB (Multi Drug Resistance TB) or XDR-TB (Extensive drug resistance TB), which are harder to cure. These MDR-TB and XDR-TB are man-made diseases, speaking metaphorically.

The common side effects of antibiotics include upset stomach, diarrhea, and, in women, vaginal yeast infections. Some side effects are more severe and, depending on the antibiotic, may disrupt the function of the kidney, liver, bone marrow, or other organs.

There was a news of a lady who took excessive painkillers that led to her liver failure in TheStar. It is important that you do not simply prescribe yourself any medications whether it is antibiotics or painkillers. Also, remember NOT to take antibiotics for a virus infection.

If you miss a dose, take it as soon as possible and continue with your regular schedule. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and continue with your regular dosing schedule. Do not take a double dose to make up for a missed one.