Antibiotics are the main elements in the treatment of complex diseases in the modern world. Their task is to fight pathogenic microorganisms. It is thanks to these drugs that a person can fight a huge number of infectious diseases that were previously incurable. Over the past thirty years, a large number of these drugs have been developed to treat a wide range of diseases. But not everything is so good, today even ordinary people who are not versed in medicine know that there are complications of antibiotic therapy. A significant number of scientific articles and works are devoted to this topic, and this suggests that the problem really exists.
Antibiotics are the subject matter of the science of macrobiology. Complications of antibiotic therapy are of concern not only to doctors around the world, but also to their patients.
Drug resistance
Medical staff should seriouslyrelated to the prescription and use of antibiotics. Before we learn about the main complications of antibiotic therapy, the classification of ailments that manifest themselves during its use, let's touch on the issue of drug resistance, which should first of all be paid attention to when choosing it.
First of all, you should pay attention to forms of drug resistance. As a first example, we can say that penicillin will be useless in the treatment of diseases caused by E. coli, such as sepsis or peritonitis. It should also be taken into account that the treatment may be useless if a small dose of the drug is prescribed or, conversely, certain microorganisms are quite often found with the same medication, which leads to their addiction.
Any competent medical worker knows that before prescribing antibiotic therapy, it is necessary to take into account the specificity of the drug to the microorganism that affects a person. Doses should be high enough and rhythmic enough to constantly maintain the concentration of the antibiotic in the blood. However, the course of admission should not exceed a week. The best option would be the combined use of medications, since different drugs will affect different aspects of the metabolism of pathogenic microorganisms.
Administration of antibiotics
The effectiveness of the entire treatment depends on the method of administration of these medications. The oral method of taking antibiotics is the most common. To date, a huge number of medicines have been developed, the intake of which provides or altheir content in human blood at the highest level. This method of administration is most justified in the presence of a variety of intestinal infections. The most common problem in the use of antibiotic therapy is its high availability for the population. A person independently has the opportunity to purchase the drug at a pharmacy and, thanks to simple instructions, use it. However, frequent use of the same antibiotic leads to secondary resistance and consequent ineffectiveness.
Parenteral methods of using these medicines can also be distinguished. The most popular is intramuscular injection. Depending on the type of pathology, to achieve the highest concentration in the blood, the doctor may prescribe intra-arterial or intravenous administration of the drug.
In diseases such as peritonitis, purulent arthritis, pleurisy, antibiotics are administered intracavitary (in the cavity of the joints, in the abdominal cavity, in the pleural cavity). The introduction of drugs into the human body does not end there. Scientists are looking for new effective routes of administration. The endolymphatic method of administration is being studied. This method will allow maintaining the daily norm of the concentration of the antibiotic in the blood with a single injection. The injection site is the lymph nodes of the abdominal or pleural cavities. The effect of this technique was noticeable in the treatment of diseases of the female reproductive system, peritonitis, purulent processes in the pleura.
Complications of antibiotic therapy, their prevention
The following unpleasant consequences of taking the indicatedchemicals:
- allergic reactions;
- anaphylactic shock;
- skin manifestations;
- toxic reactions;
- dysbacteriosis;
- stomatitis;
- photosensitization.
Below, all complications will be considered in detail, and a number of measures aimed at their prevention will be applied.
Allergic manifestations
Complications of antibiotic therapy are different. Sometimes these are small uncomfortable conditions in the body, and sometimes you can find severe cases that end in death. One of the negative manifestations is allergies. Most often it can be found in sensitized people and least often in people with congenital intolerance to a particular medication. Allergic reactions occur if the drug has been re-introduced. Sensitivity to the components of the drug may persist for a long time.
Sometimes you can find cross-sensitization - these are allergic manifestations to another drug containing the same components as the antibiotic. According to statistics, sensitization occurs in 10% of people who have been exposed to antibiotic therapy. More severe manifestations are even rarer. For example, if you apply penicillin to 70,000 people, then anaphylactic shock will occur in only one person.
Anaphylactic shock
This complication of antibiotic therapy is the most severe. A greater percentage of the occurrence of such an ailment, namely in 94% of cases, falls on penicillin. But in practice mettroubles of this kind from the use of tetracycline, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, amoxicillin and other drugs of this group. According to the Ministry of He alth, the use of antibiotics was complicated by allergies in 80% of cases, anaphylactic shock occurred in 6% of cases, 1.5% of which ended in death.
Skin Complications
The most common complications of antibiotic therapy are skin complications. They appear as a result of the reaction of the human immune system to the drug. Among them, in the form of complications of antibiotic therapy, such as urticaria, blisters, erythema are distinguished. Swelling of the face, tongue and larynx may occur. Conjunctivitis, joint pain may appear. Such manifestations may be accompanied by increased body temperature and an increase in eosinophils in the blood. The second appear as a result of the reaction of the lymph nodes and spleen. At the injection site, the patient develops tissue necrosis.
As practice shows, skin tests in sensitized people should not be trusted. In 40%, they gave a negative result, but the allergy after the antibiotic injection still developed. Sometimes it came to anaphylactic shock, so it is recommended to refuse such tests.
Rash
This phenomenon is quite common when taking antibiotics. It occurs only if a person has an individual intolerance to the components of the chemical preparation. Most often, satiety occurs in patients suffering from HIV infection, leukemia, and infectious mononucleosis. The longer you take antibiotics, the morean allergic reaction occurs. Often, rashes on the skin do not appear from the first day of taking the drug, but a little later. This is due to the fact that initially the allergen accumulates in the blood, and then produces a reaction. Not every person will immediately determine that the rashes are caused precisely by antibiotic therapy, therefore, if such problems are found, you should immediately contact a medical institution
Toxic reactions
In this case, in comparison with an allergy, everything is specific for each drug and is characterized by certain symptoms. Such complications of antibiotic therapy arise from the effect of the drug on certain organs and depend on the decay products of the drug in the human body. Most often, these manifestations can be found with antibiotic therapy, which is carried out for a long time. At the same time, medicines are used in large quantities. The severity of toxic manifestations depends on how long and in what doses the antibiotic is used.
Sometimes such a nuisance occurs when there are no enzymes in the body that are responsible for the metabolism of the antibiotic, as a result of which it accumulates in the human body. In this case, the drug negatively affects the human nervous system. If the drug enters the auditory nerve, partial or complete hearing loss may occur. The liver, kidneys, blood, bone marrow and other human organs suffer from an overdose of antibiotics. Local toxic effect is manifested in the formation of tissue necrosis at the injection site.
Complications of antibiotic therapy from macroorganism
Like any other medication, antibiotics can have a negative impact not only on the body, but also on the microbes that inhabit it. At the same time, both harmful organisms and beneficial microflora are affected. Antibiotics have a depressing effect on them, and can also lead to the formation of atypical forms of microorganisms, which in turn leads to difficulties in diagnosing an infectious disease.
Dysbacteriosis
As already mentioned, antibiotics affect not only pathogenic microbes, but also he althy microflora. All this leads to disruption of the gastrointestinal tract, and sometimes to the formation of secondary infections, such as candidiasis or colitis.
When taking antibiotics, the body does not absorb minerals and vitamins from food. As a result, a person feels a breakdown caused by iron deficiency anemia. If you destroy the normal microflora of the gastrointestinal tract, the body becomes defenseless in relation to the external environment and harmful microbes. A person suffers from constipation, diarrhea, flatulence. Constipation is long and frequent, the stomach is disturbed by severe swelling, itching is felt in the anus, the stool becomes liquid and with an unpleasant odor. Dysbacteriosis can be accompanied by nausea and weakness, loss of appetite and sleep disturbance.
Babies are restless, constantly crying and acting up. Due to discomfort in the stomach, the baby tries to press the legs to the chest. Aroundthe anus can be seen redness and irritation of the skin.
Dysbacteriosis should be treated immediately, but it is best done with the help of medical specialists who will conduct all the necessary examinations and prescribe a rational treatment that is suitable for your body. Diagnosis consists in bacteriological examination of feces, colonoscopy (examination of the rectum by inserting a special device into it by one meter), sigmoidoscopy (the rectum is also examined with the introduction of the device by 30 centimeters), an analysis of the parietal flora is carried out. The degree of development of dysbacteriosis depends on the degree of reproduction of harmful microorganisms.
Antibiotics and newborn babies
In case of serious diseases, children even of newborn age need to be injected with antibiotics. Infectious diseases accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea are treated with ampicillin. Staph infections cannot be cured without the use of first-generation cephalosporins. Metronidazole is a universal antibiotic for both adults and children. Complications arising from antibiotic therapy in newborns also take place.
Things to keep in mind when taking antibiotics for newborns?
Only a doctor can prescribe a chemical drug to such children. It is he who, when appointing, takes into account the following factors:
- The he alth of the baby and its prematurity.
- Insufficient body weight is contraindicated in taking this medicinegroups. For 50 babies, 29 will definitely get the main complications during antibiotic therapy, for the rest, even a slight discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract is not excluded.
- Congenital intolerance to the drug and a tendency to allergic manifestations.
- Degree of incidence.
- Development of the crumbs. With his obvious lagging behind his peers, a ban is imposed on antibiotics.
You should not use antibiotics on your newborn baby without consulting a doctor. A stuffy nose and a slight cough are not a reason to self-medicate.
What complications do newborn babies face?
For every doctor, prescribing antibiotics to a baby is a very responsible decision. At the same time, it is necessary to monitor the patient constantly. Complications and side effects of antibiotic therapy in this case are manifested in the toxicological effects on the baby's body. This influence belongs to a high hazard class.
May appear in the process of taking medications and less aggressive manifestations - biological. These are secondary infections, hypovitaminosis, immunosuppression, dysbacteriosis. The younger the baby, the more often it will be affected by the above negative factors. With prolonged use of chemicals of this type, complications and side effects of antibiotic therapy such as necrotizing enterocolitis occur. This is a non-specific inflammatory disease that is caused by infectious agents against the background of damage to the mucous membrane.intestine or its functional immaturity. Symptoms include somatic reactions and abdominal manifestations. With a long course, there are signs of intestinal perforation and a peritonitis clinic.
After completing a course of antibiotics, newborns, especially those born prematurely, should be prescribed drugs that are responsible for improving the functioning of the intestinal microflora.
Appearance of stomatitis
Complications of antibiotic therapy in the oral cavity include stomatitis. This disease is manifested by inflammation of the oral mucosa. While taking antibiotics, this disease can occur in two different ways.
In the first case, drug-induced stomatitis or, as it is also called, allergic stomatitis may occur. In this situation, the drug will act as an allergen. When an antibiotic enters the body, the processes of allergic reactions are triggered, resulting in swelling of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity.
In the second case, this complication after antibiotic therapy begins a few days after taking the drug. This is the so-called fungal stomatitis or candidiasis. From the moment of taking the antibiotic, the natural flora in the oral cavity begins to collapse and the Candida fungus multiplies. Such stomatitis is very easy to determine. A foul-smelling white coating (thrush) forms on the mouth.
Medicated stomatitis can occur from any other drug, and from all antibiotics. Complications with antibiotic therapynature can also manifest itself in the form of conjunctivitis, dermatitis, rhinitis, Quincke's edema, anaphylactic shock.
Thrush is more common than allergic manifestations. This is due to the fact that normally the oral cavity of any person is inhabited by beneficial microflora, but antibiotics inevitably lead to its destruction. With prolonged antibiotic therapy, Candida fungi completely colonize the oral cavity and an unpleasant white coating forms on the mucous membranes and tongue.
Photosensitization
It is a solar dermatitis on exposed skin. Most often, the culprits of this trouble are tetracyclines.
What other problems do antibiotics cause?
The following main complications of antibiotic therapy can be distinguished:
- Dysbacteriosis occurs in almost every case of antibiotic use.
- Suppression of the immune system.
- Impaired normal circulation.
- Neurotoxic effect on the brain.
- Toxic effects on the kidneys.
- Impaired intrauterine development of the fetus in pregnant women.
- Deafness.
Paying attention to the main complications of antibiotic therapy, it is necessary to remember about addiction to these drugs. Their prolonged use does not give a therapeutic effect, but negatively affects the human body.
How to take a course of antibiotic therapy?
Prevention of complications of antibiotic therapy consists in observing the following rules:
- Don't self-medicate. The course of taking antibiotics should be prescribed only by the attending physician, who will take into account all parameters (weight, height, individual intolerance, and others).
- There is a remedy for every disease. Do not think that if the antibiotic is strong, then it will cure any ailment.
- Treatment must be continued until the very end, even if you feel better. Otherwise, you will have to start treatment again, and this is an additional burden on the body.
- Be sure to remember which drugs you and your children have had allergic reactions to in order not to make repeated mistakes in the future.
- You can not reduce the dose yourself, without the knowledge of your doctor.
- It is mandatory to use medicines every day and preferably at the same time.
If you follow the prevention of complications of antibiotic therapy, their prevention will play in your favor.
