In short – no. That’s probably one of the most common unasked questions people have when seeing the doctor. They expect they need something for their cough, cold, or flu, and antibiotics surely must be the answer. However, if your doctor or medical provider does not give you antibiotics, consider yourself lucky because you have a well-intentioned, up-to-купить сиалис в украине, well-educated doctor with excellent judgment. You should be thankful and write them a note telling them how fortunate you feel to have a doctor looking out for you.

There are multiple classes of antibiotics that work in different parts of the cell. For example, some destroy the bacteria’s cell membrane, thereby killing it, like the penicillins. Others interfere with DNA replication, inhibiting reproduction, like the macrolides; famous examples include erythromycin and azithromycin. Antibiotics that kill bacteria are known as bactericidal agents. Drugs that inhibit reproduction are known as bacteriostatic drugs. They require an intact immune system to finish up the job of wiping out the bacteria.

But you might wonder why antibiotics are not being prescribed as much as they used to be. There is a movement in medicine called antimicrobial stewardship that has been around for the last 25 to 30 years but has taken off in the last 10 to 15 years. As we do more and more research into how to treat different conditions, we learn more and more that antibiotics often don’t work and may be entirely unnecessary.

First of all, you should realize that there are three basic sources of infections, bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Antibiotics attack bacteria by destroying the cell wall or inhibiting their ability to reproduce and make more baby bacteria. On the other hand, viruses are not living, breathing organisms like bacteria, and they do not respond to antibiotics. Viruses are terrorists that hijack your cells for their own purposes to reproduce themselves with your cellular machinery in order to torment you. Some antivirals are available but just for a select few viruses. They are not all that effective and tend to shorten the illness by just a day or two, such as anti-flu and anti-chickenpox/shingles drugs.

We now have antivirals for COVID, which are much more effective than previous antivirals. Parasites take a whole different class of antimicrobials. You may not even be aware of one of the most famous ones called Ivermectin, which was placed on the WHO list of essential medicationsOpens in a new tab.. The inventor won a Nobel Prize, and how it was developed is quite fascinating; see this link hereOpens in a new tab.. It works against parasites and has saved millions of lives. One of its most common uses is for battling StrongyloidesOpens in a new tab., a worm that can actually kill you if left untreated. Ivermectin is a powerful drug that has potent activity against Strongyloides. Ivermectin does not work against the Coronavirus, despite what you may have heard. However, it does seem to help those who have COVID and Strongyloides. These are essentially people who live in warm, humid tropical climates where strongy ( as some call it) is endemic, meaning it lives there and will do so forever.

Many parents expect to receive antibiotics for ear infections. However, we now know that, in general, many ear infections will be betterOpens in a new tab. in one week with or without antibiotics. It is tough to resist the pleading of a mother for her child who has a bright red eardrum and expects to get antibiotics. Thankfully for

those who do need antibiotics, we’re learning from research that shorter courses of antibiotics are just as good as more prolonged courses. The old standard of 10 to 14 days of antibiotics was not chosen scientifically but just empirically decades ago. New research has shown that sometimes 3 to 5 days is just as good as 10 to 14 days and often better due to less resistance developing and a lower incidence of side effects.

The CDC estimates that most adults get two to three head colds per year and children get more than that. Now, I know that many never get them, but if we assume everyone gets at least one, that’s over 300 million head colds per year in the United States; as you might anticipate, head colds/viruses do not respond to antibiotics. But they can evolve into sinusitis or bronchitis, complete with thick, green, and yellow mucus.