WHO explains the risks of taking antibiotics "just in case"

When treating COVID-19, patients around the world abused antibiotics: about 75% of patients took such drugs “just in case,” although only 8% had a need to take them, since CORONAVIRUS infection was accompanied by a bacterial infection. Experts from the World HEALTH Organization (WHO) came to these conclusions; the results of the study were published on its website.

Antibiotic treatment was least likely (in 33% of cases) in the region to which WHO includes Australia, the countries of Oceania and the countries of Asia facing the Pacific Ocean, most often (83%) - in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean region, to which WHO also includes includes Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia. When the infection was mild or moderate, antibiotics were most often prescribed in Africa (79%), but when it came to severe infections, the global average rose to 81%.

As the WHO reminded, antibiotics are prescribed if the benefits outweigh the risks, but overall their use has not improved clinical outcomes in patients with coronavirus.

All antibiotics are useless against viral diseases, including covid ; they are used against bacterial infections and only with a prescription from a medical specialist. Treatment with antibiotics not prescribed by a DOCTOR creates a threat that microorganisms living in the oral cavity or in the intestines and also capable of causing diseases will become resistant to such drugs, Professor Roman Kozlov, chief freelance microbiologist of the Russian Ministry of Health, explained to RBC.

“After this, we can get sick again with the so-called superinfection, when any bacteria will be very difficult for us. Any viral disease in this case can be complicated by a bacterial infection - pneumonia, etc.,” pointed out the therapist, clinical pharmacologist Andrei Kondrakhin.

“Otherwise, as soon as a runny nose starts, people run to the pharmacy to buy antibiotics. The uncontrolled use of these drugs has led to the emergence of more and more strains of viruses resistant to antibiotics,” agreed Sergei Leonov, deputy HEAD of the Duma Committee on Health Protection.

The Research Institute of the Ministry of Health also admitted that a large number of sick people are treated incorrectly. According to the organization's calculations, approximately half (49.1%) of Russians who were treated with antibiotics over the past year self-medicated, and only one in four did it correctly. Russians often take antibiotics without consulting a doctor to try to cope with a cold, cough, sore throat, headache or diarrhea. The other side of the problem is that patients stop antibiotic treatment prescribed by a doctor ahead of schedule.