Discussion of the problem - whether or not antibiotics are needed for the child - has recently acquired special relevance, because every day the number of diseases in which the use of these drugs is indicated is increasing. Nevertheless, the long-term practice of using antibacterial and antimicrobial agents has proved that these medicines are not a panacea and affect both the patient's body and the causative agents of infectious diseases. It must be remembered that it is antibiotics more often than other drugs that cause the development of allergic reactions of varying severity, the treatment of which may require more effort than therapy of the main pathological process.
When antibiotics are needed in pediatric practice
Very often, antibiotics for a child are used without appropriate medical prescription - the parents or other relatives of the child decide that a pediatrician or doctor of another specialty is not needed. At the same time, people forget that antibiotic therapy is indicated only if it is proved that the cause of the disease is a microorganism that is really sensitive to the drug or there is a risk of developing infectious microbial complications in case of damage to the immune system.
A vivid example of such "incorrect" and unjustified therapy is antibiotics for bronchitis in children. In the vast majority of cases, the cause of acute bronchitis, which develops as one of the manifestations of acute respiratory illness or ARVI, is precisely the viruses. These pathogens are in principle insensitive to antibacterial agents because they are intracellular parasites that cause disease only when introduced into intracellular structures (DNA and RNA). An antibiotic cannot exert its effect on the virus, while the risk of developing side effects of drug therapy increases many times.
In addition, there are diseases in which antibiotics for a child should be prescribed without fail - for example, tonsillitis and tonsillitis. The cause of the development of these pathological conditions is most often caused by pathogens from the cocci group. The lack of effective, age-appropriate antibacterial therapy for these diseases can provoke the development of early and distant complications, the most dangerous of which are rheumatism and endocarditis, myocarditis, polyarthritis, damage to the nervous system and kidney tissue.
How to prescribe and take antibiotics
In any case, antibiotics for the child should be prescribed only by a qualified doctor after a personal examination of a small patient, and ideally after laboratory tests and additional studies. Only in this case there is confidence that the doctor will not miss those diseases in which antibiotic therapy is mandatory, and those conditions when these drugs are useless.
In addition, the specialist must evaluate all the risks and benefits of such treatment - even antibiotics for breastfeeding may be necessary drugs. In this case, the doctor will be able to choose a drug in which the continuation of natural feeding is permissible or advise how to feed the baby during a forced break in feeding. Failure to provide reasonable treatment can cause irreparable harm to the health of the mother, while unjustified use of the antibiotic is harmful to the infant.
In addition, antibiotics for the child should be prescribed, if possible, only after carrying out a test for the individual tolerance of the selected drug and determining the sensitivity to this agent of the identified pathogen. Treatment should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor and the control of laboratory parameters, in compliance with the age dosage and the necessary duration of antibiotic therapy.