Doctors often come across two types of parents in the clinic. Some rely heavily on antibiotics, even taking them in advance to “control the condition” before bringing their children to the hospital. Some people are afraid and resistant to giving their children antibiotics, so they don’t use them when they need them, or they stop taking them after a couple days. Antibiotics are not a panacea, but neither are they a scourge. In order to avoid the use of medication deviation, fully understand the use of antibiotics principles and basic concepts is a necessary homework for parents. First of all, let’s make a judgment – the child suffers from upper respiratory tract infection, fever, cough symptoms, the condition is not serious. A chooses antibiotics for 3 days to get better. B insists on symptomatic and gets better in 7 days. If you had to choose, which one would you choose? The parents who chose A are the active medication school. They want to use medication as soon as possible to reduce the inflammation, so that their child can get well soon without suffering, which is understandable. However, the trend of using antibiotics as soon as your child gets sick is a heavy blow to your child’s health. We know that growing children need to have “minor illnesses” to promote the maturation of their immune systems. A “minor illness” is a natural infection that is not serious, such as a runny nose or a mild cough. During a minor illness, the child will feel sick and the disease will be slower to improve, but it will activate the immune system, and the child’s body will produce the appropriate antibodies to fight bacteria or viruses, which can prevent future infections from occurring. Conversely, if antibiotics are used aggressively every time, the immune system is deprived of the opportunity to be stimulated by the infection, and the immune system does not mature well enough to fight off the infection. This is why the more aggressively you treat your child, the more likely he or she is to get sick. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria and non-bacterial germs such as Mycoplasma and Chlamydia, not against viral infections, and are mainly used clinically for severe bacterial infections. Generally speaking, mild bacterial infections the human body can resist, moderate to severe may not be able to resist, or will cause more serious infections, we will use antibiotics to help a hand. 1, 80% to 90% of the common cold is caused by viruses, antibiotics can not help. Only when the child’s symptoms continue to worsen, high fever, the total number of white blood cells or neutrophils increased, or complication of otitis media, tonsillitis, sinusitis and other clear bacterial infections, only need to use antibiotics. The most taboo is that once the respiratory tract is found to be infected, the choice of antibiotics + antiviral drugs + immune enhancers, which is very detrimental to the maturation of the immune system, but instead will bring damage. 2, fever fever is only a symptom, not the cause of the disease. If it is due to a viral infection, there is no need for antibiotics, much less intravenous antibiotics. It should be reminded not to think that intravenous infusion is an effective way to reduce fever. If the child is suffering from a viral infection, the use of antibiotics may cause disorders of the intestinal flora, resulting in dysbiosis and the possibility of secondary bacterial infections. Laboratory results are for reference only Whether a child needs antibiotics, many parents rely too much on laboratory tests. It is true that lab results can help us find the cause of the disease and are an important step in choosing the right antibiotic. However, the diagnosis of the disease is the doctor’s job, and parents need to cooperate rather than make their own judgment. Doctors need to first consider the clinical manifestations, including symptoms and signs (the doctor found out), the child’s medical history, the child’s previous white blood cell levels, etc., and then combined with the results of the test to decide, the laboratory is only an auxiliary examination. 1, fever blood routine suggests that the white blood cells increase a little bit, at the same time high lymphocytes, does not indicate a bacterial infection. If the blood test found more than 15 white blood cells, including neutrophils more than 80%, combined with clinical manifestations, medical history and other comprehensive judgment, the doctor may consider a bacterial infection. 2, diarrhea children with frequent diarrhea, more serious, should take antibiotics? In fact, the use of medication does not depend on the nature of the stool and the number of bowel movements, but need to determine whether the diarrhea is caused by a bacterial infection, if the typical bacterial enteritis must take antibiotics. How to determine if the diarrhea is caused by a bacterial infection? It can be viewed from a combination of clinical manifestations, laboratory results, and so on. Visually, bacterial infections are characterized by mucus or blood in the stool and a foul odor. Stool routine is seen to contain more than 10 to 15 white blood cells or pus cells per high power view (HP). In addition, you should ask your doctor about the proper way to administer your medication. Including: how long interval to take once, how many days should be taken, whether the symptoms improve can stop taking the medicine by themselves, whether to return to the clinic after the medicine is finished, etc. These questions should be asked to the doctor at the clinic. Antibiotic use of the 3 big misunderstanding 1, “antibiotics can not take more, once the condition is stabilized, immediately give the child to stop taking antibiotics.” The truth is: don’t take the liberty to decide whether to stop using it or not. People apply antibiotics at the same time, the bacteria also exercise their own drug resistance, if they do not make it completely die once, they will develop a certain resistance to the antibiotics used. This spreads over and over again, and eventually at some point, these bacteria are no longer sensitive to this antibiotic, and the antibiotic is no longer able to kill the bacteria. Therefore, the use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infections, be sure to ensure enough time, at least 5 to 7 days of application (azithromycin has a special half-life, available for 3 to 5 days), to kill the bacteria completely, to avoid the production of drug-resistant bacteria. 2.”The more advanced and expensive the antibiotic, the better it works.” The truth is: the more targeted the antibiotic, the better. If you suspect a bacterial infection, you can work with your doctor to conduct blood, urine or bacterial sensitivity tests to determine the cause of the disease. Use antibiotics that are relatively strong in their action for different bacterial infections, rather than the highest-grade, most expensive antibiotics. Similarly, no matter how similar your child’s symptoms are, never reintroduce a previously used antibiotic without your doctor’s advice. The risk of prescribing medication to your child at your own discretion is to destroy the good bacteria, even the ones that are useful to the immune system, and to allow the drug-resistant ones to make a big push. 3. “Using antibiotics prevents combined bacterial infections.” The truth is: antibiotics have no efficacy in preventing infections. There is a very bad phenomenon nowadays of combining antibiotics and antiviral drugs. It seems very reasonable, but in reality it is very damaging to the child. It is very rare for a normally resistant infant or young child to develop a viral respiratory infection that is complicated by a bacterial infection. In some cases, the reason for the late complication of bacterial infections is due to close contact with patients with bacterial infections during the period of illness, such as frequent visits to the doctor and infusion during colds. Therefore, it is not necessary to use antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections. 5 Reminders for Antibiotic Use 1. Antibiotics should be used carefully. Reducing the number of times antibiotics are used can help greatly in improving your child’s immune system. 2.The first problem after infection is to determine the cause of the infection. Bacteria and viruses are the most common causes of infections, and distinguishing between bacterial or viral infections is often critical. 3, Severe bacterial infections must be treated with antibiotics as prescribed by the doctor, otherwise the bacterial infection may be exacerbated, and the development of sepsis and meningitis is even more problematic. 4. It is very rare for bacterial and viral infections to occur at the same time, and most cases do not require the simultaneous use of antibiotics and antiviral drugs. 5, learn to ask the doctor 3 words: the child’s disease and bacterial infection has no relationship? Do I need to take antibiotics? How should I take antibiotics? Do have a clear idea in your mind.