Antibiotic Awareness and Overuse

By: Elena Jamscek, PA-C

Antibiotics are great and have helped many people but only when they are NECESSARY.  There has been a rapid increase in antibiotic usage causing some antibiotics to become resistant.  Antibiotic resistance means that the strains of bacteria that are causing our strep throat infections, sinus infections, and even more serious infections may not be susceptible to the typical antibiotics.  This causes infections to last longer than normal, spread to other parts of the body, and cause further complications.

It is important that you know we, as medical professionals, have only you best interest in mind and we still may not prescribe you an antibiotic.  Most of the time if you have been sick for only a day or so it is difficult to determine the cause of your symptoms but most often, we are affected by viruses.  Viruses are never susceptible to antibiotics.

While we want you seek medical care when you are not feeling well, but we also want you to understand why an antibiotic may not be our first line of treatment for your symptoms.

Scenarios when antibiotics might be necessary:

• Fever
• Redness, swelling, pinpoint pain, and heat in one area
• Pus (i.e. white spots on your tonsils or from an open wound)
• Symptoms longer than 5-7 days
• Colored mucus from nose or from coughing
• Painful urination
• Exposure to sexually transmitted infections
• Diarrhea longer than 3-5 days
• Drainage from one eye with redness

Hope this helps understand your medical provider’s decision making! As, always in case you need us….we are here from Monday through Saturday 8am to 8pm. No appointment needed!