You're coughing, sneezing, feeling miserable, and you just want to feel better. When you see your doctor, you are expecting the very best in modern medicine. Sometimes the best medicine is sound advice, time, rest, and maybe some remedies bought over-the-counter at the drug store.
If you visit your doctor and are expecting a prescription for a powerful antibiotic, you might be disappointed. Antibiotics aren't the answer for many common illnesses, even though we've come to expect the doctor to write a prescription for them. In fact, a Harris Poll showed that nearly half of all adults surveyed believe that antibiotics are at least somewhat effective in treating colds and flu.
Unfortunately, many doctors feel your pain (and pressure) to write a prescription, and they sometimes do so inappropriately. Also, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that doctors will prescribe newer, more expensive broad-spectrum antibiotics instead of the traditional tried-and-proven ones such as penicillin and erythromycin that do tackle bacterially caused sore throats.
Taking antibiotics at all, or taking stronger-than-needed versions, can be harmful in the long run by creating antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Antibiotics can also place you at risk for allergic reactions and needless side effects.
The Truth Is That Antibiotics Simply Don't Cure Colds
Here's why:
- Bacterial germs that cause sinusitis and certain bacterial pneumonias, for example, are big, complicated cells. They metabolize sugar as fuel and have their own machinery to clone themselves. The tiny cold-causing virus, on the other hand, is a simple structure that needs your cells to duplicate and cause infection. Regular antibiotics break holes in the cell walls of bacterial germs and stop them from duplicating but do nothing to viruses.
- Because viruses are so small and so simple, it is harder to create ammunition to attack them. They simply run their course without medication. Only a few, specific antiviral drugs have been developed to attack viruses. These include drugs against HIV and influenza. No antiviral agent exists to combat any of several hundred different viruses known to cause the common cold.
- Don't expect your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic for a cold, even if you request one. Antibiotics won't prevent bacterial infections developing from a cold, such as sinusitis or ear infections, even if taken "just in case."
A recent study showed that physicians prescribed antibiotics in 53 percent of patient visits for sore throat, exceeding the expected 15 to 36 percent prevalence of the only common strand of strep throat treatable with antibiotics. The study also showed that only half of the patients who received antibiotics for strep throat were ever tested to confirm the diagnosis. This was surprising since rapid, in-office diagnostic tests are readily available.
If you're concerned that your cold may be something more dangerous such as flu or strep throat, and have other symptoms such as fever or yellow or green nasal secretions, call your doctor. Antibiotics or other medications might be right for you. Most of the time, though, it's nothing serious. |
