What are antibiotics?

Antibiotics are a group of medicines that are used to kill and inhibit the multiplication of pathogens, including bacteria. These drugs are ineffective in viral infections, in particular for colds. Many antibiotics are derived from living pathogens, although in recent decades, pharmaceutical companies have synthesized new drugs.

For the first time antibiotics found a mass use during the Second World War. Since the 1940s, with the help of them, millions of people have been able to save their lives, to win a convincing victory in the fight against childhood infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, pelvic inflammatory diseases and other life-threatening conditions. This is a bacterial meningitis (infectious inflammation of the brain and spinal cord), as well as endocarditis (infectious inflammation of the endocardium - the inner shell of the heart, which lining its cavities and forms the valves).

However, due to the recent revival of such serious infectious diseases as tuberculosis in particular, there were doubts about the validity of the triumphal declarations about the final and irreversible victory over all infections. According to physicians, the current spread of non-treatable diseases is due to the emergence of resistant strains of microorganisms, which are no longer affected by existing antibiotics. From the point of view of many specialists, this is largely due to the massive and not always justified prescription of antibiotics by doctors and uncontrolled administration of these drugs by patients.

Since the mid-90s of the XX century, more and more evidence confirms that new strains of Streptococcus pneumonia resistant to all groups of antibiotics have emerged, which can be considered a paradox. According to the World Health Organization, the pathogens of almost all infectious diseases slowly but steadily develop resistance (immunity) to existing medicines. Experts of this organization warn that there are reasons to fear the transformation of previously curable diseases - from tonsillitis to tuberculosis, malaria and gonorrhea - into unresponsive therapy, even in developed countries. It is not excluded that the decrease in the prevalence of pathogens and the diseases caused by them in the past was explained by natural fluctuations in the evolution of infectious agents, that is, what happened more than once in the history of medical science before the discovery of penicillin.

However, what has been said does not mean that antibiotics retreat before diseases. It's just that medications should be used prudently and reasonably - only to combat bacterial and individual fungal infections and only in the most exceptional cases with a preventive purpose. Parents must ensure that the prescribed regimen and duration of treatment are observed even after the disappearance of the initial symptoms.

Women should remember that taking antibiotics exacerbates fungal infections because it disturbs the natural balance of microflora in the body. If there are signs of candidiasis during antibiotic therapy, the patient should consult a doctor.