Chris Smyth, Health Editor

The Times

Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:

 “I am amazed as to how many patients still think that when they develop an infection that they need antibiotics, whether it’s a chest infection, throat infection, urinary infection etc. We live in such a fast-paced society that people really don’t like feeling unwell for too long. Even if they manage to persuade their GP to prescribe antibiotics, the research below suggest that it does nothing to shorten the period of illness, in this case chest infections. Many illnesses are viral, which will NOT respond to antibiotics anyway or patients may have symptoms that they think are bacterial infections but often proven to not be. Antibiotics often causes disruption of the gut biome, ironically one of the critical parts of our immune system. In the past 30 years I think I have had probably no more than 2 courses of antibiotics (for a tooth abscess after an old root canal caused problems).  The research suggest that about 10% of chest infections in this study was related to bacterial infection and even then it made no difference taking the antibiotic to the severity or length of the illness!!!!

 There are so many things that we can do to naturally support our immune systems:

A good probiotic

Improving our Heart rate Variability (stress management/breathing)

Lowering sugar in our diet

Specific Nutrients such as Zinc and beta Glucans

Avoiding antibiotics unless absolutely necessary

 With the major problem of antibiotic resistance all of us need to be more mindful of the things we can do to help ourselves and not pressurise our GP’s to prescribe unnecessarily. There is a serious danger that many common medical procedures may become too risky to carry out if antibiotic resistance really takes hold, which it seems to be doing.”

Chest infections caused by antibiotic-resistant superbugs clear up just as quickly as those caused by other bacteria, a ground-breaking study has found.

The findings highlight the pointlessness of using the drugs to treat conditions such as bronchitis.

Liberal use of antibiotics is speeding up the rate at which bacteria develop resistance to them. Professor Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, has warned of an “apocalyptic” scenario in which treatments from chemotherapy to hip replacements become impossible and common infections kill.

Previous research has suggested that antibiotics make little difference to chest infections, many of which are caused by viruses rather than bacteria.

The new study looked at data on 1,000 patients with chest infections given a placebo as part of an earlier trial of a common antibiotic. Only 104 patients had a bacterial infection and their symptoms were no more severe and took no longer to clear up if the bacteria was shown by tests to be antibiotic resistant, according to results in the British Journal of General Practice.

“If you have got resistant bronchitis it probably doesn’t matter that much,” Professor Paul Little of the University of Southampton, an author of the study, said. “People had these potentially nasty bugs but it’s not a severe illness.

“Resistant organisms are relatively common — about half of the bugs were resistant to one antibiotic. We know that is largely related to prescribing we do as GPs — that’s the bad news.

“The good news is that most infections people get are not life-threatening. They are a nuisance but antibiotics aren’t going to make much difference if you’re relatively healthy.”

Professor Little said his findings underscored the importance of patients not demanding antibiotics for chest infections. Not only would the drugs do little good but they helped such infections develop resistance that could become much more dangerous if they caused other types of illness.

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said that the research “provides some reassurance that the bacteria causing straightforward chest infections are usually overcome by our natural defences whether or not they are resistant to antibiotics”.

“As this study indicates, prescribing antibiotics is not always the answer to treating minor, self-limiting illnesses such as straightforward chest infections,” Professor Stokes-Lampard said.

She insisted that family doctors were doing their part to tackle “a major global health threat”, arguing: “GPs understand the critical need to ensure antibiotics are only prescribed when they are absolutely necessary and are doing a good job of reducing antibiotics prescriptions in primary care.”