Stop Prescribing Antibiotics for Viral Infections

People should know better not to take antibiotics when having a viral infection, but the most concerning thing is when actual doctors make this mistake on their patients.

A study published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, concluded that doctors are frequently misusing antibiotics when they treat patients with respiratory tract infections (RTIs).

The study's authors, Kevin T. Shiley, Ebbing Lautenbach and Ingi Lee, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, focused on patients in two hospitals in Pennsylvania and found that some of them were treated with antibiotics, although it was known that they had infections caused by viruses.

The scientists analyzed data from RTI patients that were admitted in these two hospitals, over a period of two years, and found that out of 196 patients diagnosed with viral infections, 125 kept taking antibiotics after the diagnosis.

Only 37% of these patients had abnormal chest x-rays, so the researchers wandered “why the remaining 63% of patients with normal chest imaging were prescribed antibiotics.

Those that took antibiotics in vain, had absolutely no benefit from the treatment, and actually, in some cases, the antibiotics caused problems like Clostridium difficile diarrhea.

Overall, the group taking antibiotics stayed mush longer in the hospital and had higher mortality rates that the group not taking unnecessary antibiotics.

Scientists say that even though poorer outcomes cannot be imputed directly to the antibiotic treatment, there was clearly no benefit at all.

These findings are very serious because not only antibiotics are not efficient against viruses, but the overuse and misuse of antibiotics can create resistant bacterial strains.

The authors write that “these data demonstrate at least one area where antibiotics are commonly used in hospitalized patients without clear reason.

“Recognition of this may be helpful in developing interventions to limit inappropriate antibiotic use in the future.”

Modern medicine has developed new tests that can make the difference between bacterial and viral infections, so it would be logic to see the misuse of antibiotics decrease, but according to Shiley and his colleagues, this is not happening.

Neil O. Fishman, MD at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America said that “this study highlights the crucial role of antimicrobial stewardship in improving patient care.

“Appropriate use of antibiotics is not only essential to limiting emergence of resistance, but also may help improve clinical outcomes.”