Posted on 09/22/2010 5:26:39 PM PDT by decimon
Doctors frequently misuse antibiotics when treating patients hospitalized with respiratory tract infections (RTIs), according to a study to be published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
The study, which tracked patients in two Pennsylvania hospitals, found that doctors often use antibiotics to treat patients whose infections are known to be caused by viruses. The findings are alarming because antibiotics are not effective against viruses, and antibiotic overuse has been linked to the development of resistant bacterial strains.
"[T]hese data demonstrate at least one area where antibiotics are commonly used in hospitalized patients without clear reason," write the study's authors, Kevin T. Shiley, Ebbing Lautenbach and Ingi Lee, all from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Recognition of this may be helpful in developing interventions to limit inappropriate antibiotic use in the future."
In recent years, new diagnostic tests have been developed to distinguish infections caused by viruses from those caused by bacteria. In theory, more definitive diagnoses should reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics in patients with viral infections. But that does not appear to be happening, according to Shiley and his colleagues.
The researchers looked at data on RTI patients admitted to two hospitals over a two-year period. Of 196 patients who were diagnosed with viral infections, 125 remained on antibiotics after their diagnoses. It would be understandable to keep a patient on antibiotics if an abnormal chest x-ray suggests a concurrent bacterial infection, the researchers said. However, only 37% of these patients had abnormal chest x-rays. "It is less clear why the remaining 63% of patients with normal chest imaging were prescribed antibiotics," Shiley and his colleagues write.
NO CLINICAL BENEFIT
Patients in the study who remained on antibiotics did not benefit from the treatment, the researchers found. In fact, antibiotics may have led to harm in some cases. For example, a significant number of antibiotic patients developed Clostridium difficile diarrhea, a condition linked with antibiotic use.
On average, the antibiotic group had longer hospital stays and higher mortality rates than the non-antibiotic group. While those poorer outcomes cannot be attributed directly to antibiotic treatment, they do suggest that there was no clinical benefit, the researchers say.
"This study highlights the crucial role of antimicrobial stewardship in improving patient care," said Neil O. Fishman, M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. "Appropriate use of antibiotics is not only essential to limiting emergence of resistance, but also may help improve clinical outcomes."
###
Kevin T. Shiley, Ebbing Lautenbach, and Ingi Lee, "The Use of Antimicrobial Agents after the Diagnosis of Viral Respiratory Tract Infections in Hospitalized Adults: Antibiotics or Anxiolytics?" Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 31:11 (November 2010). The study will publish online next week.
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. It is published by a partnership between The Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press.
Supplementation is a whole ‘nother world of possibility, with D3 right at the top of the heap as far as aiding viral resistance. Not so sure about bacteria, though. And cinnamon has useful qualities above and beyond smelling and tasting nice, as you point out.
Really seriously looking for advice. I can’t afford a doctor visit right now. Help?
Doctors frequently misuse antibiotics when treating patients hospitalized with respiratory tract infectionsThey chop 'em up and snort 'em! ;')
The tense of the verb "is" properly corrected denotes a present condition not a permanent condition. You may prefer "controlled" and I have not complaint. Based on your response you will know Advair and I am on the second higher dose of the steroid portion.
You got anything that will help fight this viral lung infection I’ve got?
Since your illness is a seasonal thing, have you ever been tested for allergies? Allergies can make you feel awful and you might mistake it for a virus.
I think we had better luck with witch doctors and medicine-men.
The doc last year seemed to think it was viral. Feels like the same thing every year. I had some kind of pneumonia twice in the winter of ‘04. Now every year I get this. Last year it was around Thanksgiving. Lasted thru Christmas. Took an antihistimine last night just so I could sleep a little better. But that was all it did. Helped me sleep. Wasn’t up every couple of hours coughing.
Give them a yogurt daily.
So you’re run down from overwork and have an annual bout with some sort of infection?
I can’t pretend to give advice, but the first thing I do when I feel some sort of bug coming on is to take a decent can of chicken soup, crush up several cloves of garlic into it, along with two bay leaves, a bunch of oregano and either a lot of fresh cracked black pepper or hot sauce. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for a good while with the lid on, then eat it all. As I mentioned upthread, quite a few of the typical kitchen spices have antimicrobial properties, you don’t need to limit yourself to just these if your taste in food varies.
Go get a probiotic, some Omega 3 and make a point of eating right. Find a way to let go of the stress you’re carrying around. Simple visualization, whenever and wherever you have the opportunity, lay back, close your eyes, concentrate on your breathing. In and out, fully, slowly. Goal is relaxation. Visualize relaxing every muscle in your body, you’ll have a surprising number of very tense ones.
While you’re doing this, in your mind, see a happy place, a good place where you feel at ease and at peace. Go there in your mind, all the while breathing easily and deeply, with muscles relaxed. This will help a great deal until you are through your seasonal period of overwork and can get some genuine rest.
Prayer is very effective in doing the same thing, if you’re the praying sort. Lift your burden up to God. Ask for His help in humble sincerity.
That’s as close to advice as I have to give.
I don't. Nor much about asthma.
Many doctors prescribe antibiotics just to get their winey,demanding patients off their backs.Plus,in most third world countries (like Mexico and India) illiterate knuckledraggers can walk into any shop in town and buy an antibiotic for a few pennies when they don’t need it.And yet many wonder why diseases that were easily cured with antibiotics a decade ago are now resistant to everything we have.
She hasn’t done that, and I don’t think she would go for that. I have had her do the whole saline nose spray.
However, I don’t think that would be advised now that she is on a steroid spray.
I’m really hoping the allergy shots help. It should make her allergy symptoms go away, and then she won’t be as susceptible to the colds. We’ll see.
besides...if you get admitted to a hospital you've got to be pretty bad off.....and starting antibiotics initially is routine and also part of a nationwide standard for pneumonia..
... well, for the very literal-minded, don’t eat the bay leaves. Pick them out. The stems are a fine way to choke yourself.
I know advair well. My daughters and I are all on it. I hate asthma!!!!
I’ll try anything. I’ll try them all. Thanks. I gotta go lie down.
Hi, Ditter. How’s little Cookie coming along with her skin allergies?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.