Should antibiotics be taken until the end of the therapy?

A group of British researchers published an article in one of the most influential internal medicine journals, "BMJ", in which they question the current practice of prescribing and taking antibiotics, writes the BBC. Current practice dictates that antibiotics should be taken exactly as long as the therapy lasts.

The researchers, namely, claim that there is not enough evidence to confirm the thesis that stopping antibiotics before the end of treatment leads to the development of antibiotic resistance.

Instead, the researchers argue that other strategies for taking antibiotics, such as stopping them when the patient starts to feel better, should be examined more closely. General practitioners, on the other hand, encourage people not to change their behavior after just one study.

The researchers, in a commentary published in the "BMJ", found that reducing the use of antibiotics is a key step in the fight against the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

Professor Martin Llewellyn of Brighton and Sussex Medical School and his fellow authors argued in the article that taking antibiotics for an unnecessarily long time increases the risk of developing resistance.

Llewellyn suggests that traditionally long-term antibiotic treatments were based on the idea that resistance could develop if the drug was not taken for a long period and the infection was not completely cured.

Llewellyn claims that there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that antibiotic therapy lasting three to five days can cure most illnesses just as well. He acknowledges that there are a few exceptions, such as prescribing only one type of antibiotic to treat tuberculosis and HIV infection. In these situations, resistance to antibiotics often develops very quickly.

Researchers claim that antibiotic therapy needs to be tailored to each person and infection. The article also says that hospitals are revising the need for antibiotics day by day and that shorter treatments are increasingly being prescribed.

The study, however, questions stopping antibiotics when the patient feels better because not all patients are able to go to the hospital for daily check-ups. Also, they accept that this idea of ​​shorter therapies should be further investigated.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, head of the Association of General Practitioners of Great Britain, said it was important to take new evidence into account, but that she could not "encourage behavior change on the basis of one study". She adds that antibiotics are not prescribed at random, but given depending on specific diseases and that in many cases, the therapy does not last long.

"We are concerned about the concept of stopping antibiotics in the middle of treatment if the patient feels better, because this does not mean that the infection has been destroyed. It is important that clear messages are sent to patients, and the instruction to end antibiotic therapy is well known," Dr. Stokes concluded. - Lampard.

At the same time, the representative of the Royal Association of Pharmacists, Kieran Hand, believes that the article in the BMJ is related, because they start the debate about antibiotic treatment.

"The researchers said more research is needed before patients can be told to stop taking antibiotics if they start to feel better," he said.

"It would be ideal if in the future it would be determined exactly how long the treatment of certain diseases should last."

The executive agency of the Ministry of Health of Great Britain states that patients should continue to follow the instructions of their doctors when it comes to taking antibiotics, reports Jutarnji.