When you decide to wait out your sickness, you might end up with serious consequences from untreated bacterial infection. On the other hand, using antibiotics may help treat the problem but have serious side effects. It is thus essential to know the type of diseases that usually require antibiotics.
How Antibiotics Work
Antibiotics help to treat bacterial infections by either killing the bacteria or stopping the bacteria from growing. Antibiotics cannot be used to treat fungi or a virus-caused infection such as flu. Antibiotics are categorized into many classes, such as penicillin, cephalosporin, aminoglycosides, and many others. Each class then has individual antibiotics that are used to treat different types of infections.
When You Need Antibiotics
Some of the signs of infection include pain, swollen lymph nodes, inflammation, drainage, nausea, fever, and muscle aches. This signs, however, cannot indicate if the infection you have is bacterial, fungal, or viral. The best way to go about it is to visit a doctor to get the right diagnosis.
Antibiotics are prescription-only medication, so you need to schedule a visit to the clinic. The doctor may determine the type of infection you have by simply examining you and asking a couple of questions. In other cases, he may take samples, such as skin cells, or urine, and run some tests to make the right diagnosis.
Here are some common infections that require antibiotics.
Urinary Tract Infections
UTIs are usually caused by bacteria, meaning that they should almost always be treated using antibiotics. Some of the symptoms of UTI include frequent urge to urinate and pelvic pain. If left untreated, the infection can spread to the kidneys and result in kidney damage, which can be life-threatening. Antibiotics that can be prescribed for UTIs include Bactrim, ciprofloxacin, and nitrofurantoin.
Ear Infections
Ear infections are most common in children. Symptoms include pain, fluid drainage, inflammation, and difficulty in hearing. These symptoms, however, may also occur without an infection. The doctor will thus have to confirm that a true infection causes the symptoms before prescribing any antibiotics. Amoxicillin is the antibiotic usually used to treat ear infections.
Pneumonia
Pneumonia can either be bacterial or viral. It is a severe condition, especially in individuals who have weak immune systems such as aged, very young, or sick people. Antibiotics should be used to treat bacterial pneumonia as soon as when the diagnosis is made. Multiple antibiotics may be used for each patient, depending on where the pneumonia was acquired. Azithromycin, levofloxacin, and doxycycline are examples of medicines used to treat pneumonia.