Is It Really Necessary To Finish A Course Of Antibiotics?

Experts have advised patients to do not believe in the incorrect advice, which tells them to continue and finish off their course of antibiotics even if they are feeling well. The disease researchers from British, have found that finishing a full course has increase drug resistance in the disease. The cause of drug resistance is not the incomplete usage of antibiotics as generally advised by medical authorities, rather it is from over using these drugs has accelerated the mutation and drug resistance in the disease.

"We encourage policy makers, educators and doctors to stop advocating 'complete the course' when communicating with the public, Further, they should publicly and actively state that this was not evidence-based and is incorrect" wrote the team, led by infectious diseases expert Martin Llewelyn of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

The team found in their study that there was no link between drug resistance and stopping the intake of the drugs before their schedule. "When a patient takes antibiotics for any reason, antibiotic sensitive species and strains among (microorganisms) on their skin or gut or in the environment are replaced by resistant species and strains ready to cause infection in the future," the team explained.

Peter Openshaw, president of the British Society for Immunology was also in the favour of shortening antibiotics, suggesting that short courses may help tackle the resistance problem. "It could be that antibiotics should be used only to reduce the bacterial burden to a level that can be coped with by the person's own immune system," he said. Extended treatments should only be compulsory if the person has no other alternative. This tells us that long term drug usage is not a sustainable solutio