Do You Really Need That Antibiotic?
www.nytimes.com
It’s antibiotic season. Brush up on how you should use them — and when to avoid them.

It’s refreshing to see a major news outlet discussing collateral damage and not just resistance. Over the past decade, 99% of the time antibiotic overuse is covered and warned about it’s always only in regards to resistance.

It’s a good article that also doesn’t spread the common misinformation of “just take some probiotics and fermented foods after antibiotics and you’re good to go”.

Swallowing an antibiotic is like carpet-bombing the trillions of microorganisms that live in the gut, killing not just the bad but the good too, said Dr. Martin Blaser, author of the book “Missing Microbes” and director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers University.

“I think the health profession in general has systematically overestimated the value of antibiotics and underestimated the cost,” Dr. Blaser said.

No shit. And it has spread like a virus to the general populace as well. The majority of people seem mentally addicted to antibiotics and think they’re going to die if they don’t get an antibiotic for every minor issue.

  • Find out if you really need an antibiotic.
  • Ask for the shortest course.
  • Rethink probiotics.

I appreciate the NYT for finally helping spread this.

Just yesterday people on Lemmy were cheering about AI discovering new antibiotics. When I shared info about the concerns of collateral damage, the responses were more unintelligent and close-minded than on reddit. Extremely depressing.

For more info on this subject there’s a wiki and forum at https://humanmicrobiome.info.

  • @flooppoolf@lemmy.world
    4•6 months ago

    I’m considering this to be harmful information.

    When you wipe out all of your microbiome, chances are it returns to normal in the following months after antibiotic treatment.

    Your doctor will know if you need antibiotics because there is a positive test for a bacterial infection.

    You have to take the full course to prevent resistance from forming. Resistance will form, no matter what, if you don’t fully eradicate the foreign organism. Studies are conducted to find out what the best course duration is in order to completely eradicate the organism. (STOP-IT trial for Intra Abdominal Infections suggest 4/5 days vs 10 day norm to be effective)

    That is something you don’t want to happen because then you have to use stronger antibiotics which will absolutely do more than make your tummy hurt. (Ouch my kidneys)

    The only medical indication for a FMT is a C.diff infection that is recurring. This means your microbiome has been wiped and replaced with C. Difficile. A bug that causes severe diarrhea.

    If you let resistance flourish, then every single time someone needs to take an antibiotic it will be even more likely they develop a C. Diff infection due to the microbiota being wiped even harder. Resistance will become even more common due to the least harmful antibiotics not being available for use.

    If you prevent resistance you prevent the use of harder antibiotics which prevents microbiome damage which prevents c. diff.

    • @MaximilianKohler@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      -2•6 months ago

      When you wipe out all of your microbiome, chances are it returns to normal in the following months after antibiotic treatment.

      Harmful misinformation. A plethora of citations were already provided that debunk that claim.

      You have to take the full course to prevent resistance from forming.

      Harmful misinformation that is contradicted by the citation in the article and numerous other citations that I provided in the OP and my introductory comment.

      If you let resistance flourish, then every single time someone needs to take an antibiotic it will be even more likely they develop a C. Diff infection due to the microbiota being wiped even harder.

      This makes no sense. I’ll rephrase it to make it sensical and accurate:

      If you overuse antibiotics, every time someone needs to take an antibiotic it will be even more likely they develop a C. Diff infection due to their microbiota being wiped out previously.