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29 March 2024

Myth or Fact: Antibiotics work during flu attack

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

You are suffering from the flu. You have a running nose, a cold and a bad cough. Time for an antibiotic treatment?

It depends, explained Sami Mana bin Ahmad, community medicine specialist registrar with Dubai Health Authority (DHA). "In most cases, these symptoms are caused by a virus. In that case antibiotics are not the correct medication. However, something which can begin as a viral infection can complicate to become a bacterial infection."

 In case of a bacterial infection antibiotic is a proper response. An antibiotic treatment will not do its job when there is a viral infection. Taking antibiotics in such case may even have a negative impact on our health.

This was again emphasised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a life Twitter session on European Antibiotics Awareness Day (EAAD).

"Antibiotics are medicines used to treat infections caused by bacteria such as tuberculosis, pneumonia. Do not take antibiotics for illnesses caused by viruses such as colds and influenza. They will not work. Taking an antibiotic unnecessarily decreases its effectiveness against bacterial infections so it might not work when really needed," the WHO tweeted.

It is not uncommon for people to reach out for the nearest antibiotic medication available when they show symptoms of influenza. It is a common problem around the world, explained Sami Mana bin Ahmad, community medicine specialist registrar with Dubai Health Authority (DHA).

In the UAE too, misuse of antibiotics is a problem that continues to exist. "People tend to use antibiotics when it is not really needed. Because of this, they build up a resistance against the medication," Sami said.

The number of effective antibiotics is decreasing as bacteria change to protect themselves against an antibiotic," tweeted the World Health Organisation last week.

Earlier, pathologist Dr. Sunita Vaidya, Lab Director of Aster Diagnostic Centre spoke to Emirates 24/7, and explained that quite frequently bacterial strains resistant to multiple antibiotics are found in the lab, indicating a challenging resistance towards antibiotics in the UAE.

Patients may not always be able to identify what is causing their symptoms. In order to find a suitable response to the symptoms, a visit to the doctor is required, explained Sami.

"The doctor may do a clinical examination or a blood test. Based on these observations he will be able to tell whether there is a viral or bacterial infection."

Rakesh Kumar, Specialist Physician at Aster Medical Center regularly sees patients with in both categories. On the basis of the symptoms, or examination it can be determined what kind of infection is the case, he explains.

"When the patient has a running nose and a low-grade fever, this is probably a viral infection. This will pass in 3-5 days.

"When the patient has throat pain, ear pain, pain with swallowing or bronchitis, there could be a bacterial infection."

"When the pain reaches beyond a local pain, there could be a bacterial infection," Sami adds. "Bronchitis is such case; there might be a yellow or green colour coming from the throat and the sinuses are affected."

According to Rakesh, antibiotics as a random treatment for the flu are not unusual among patients, who seem to get these treatments over the counter at pharmacies. "Sometimes patients come to my clinic, because the antibiotics do not solve their problem. They first went to the pharmacy, and then came to the doctor. They should first visit the doctor."

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)