5 health dangers of taking antibiotics without prescription

Antibiotics are important medicines used to treat certain bacterial infections. However, taking them without a proper prescription can create health problems, especially when the illness has not been correctly diagnosed.

Many people keep antibiotics at home or obtain them without a prescription because they have used the same medicine for a similar illness in the past. Others may take antibiotics recommended by friends, relatives or someone who has experienced similar symptoms.

The problem is that similar symptoms do not always mean the same illness. An antibiotic that once helped a person may be unnecessary or unsuitable for another.

In this article, Tribune Online highlights five health dangers of taking antibiotics without a prescription.

One of the biggest problems with taking antibiotics without proper assessment is using them for an illness that is not caused by bacteria.Antibiotics work against certain bacterial infections. They do not treat viral infections such as most common colds and influenza. Taking an antibiotic for a viral illness will therefore not eliminate the virus or make the medicine work faster.

This can happen when a person experiences symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, body pains or weakness and immediately assumes that an antibiotic is required.

A fever, for example, can occur with several different conditions. The same applies to cough, sore throat and other common symptoms. Some illnesses require completely different forms of treatment, while others may improve without antibiotics.

Taking an antibiotic simply because the symptoms appear familiar can therefore result in unnecessary medicine use.The medicine may also create a false sense that the illness is being treated when the actual cause remains unaddressed.

Antibiotics are medicines, and like other medicines, they can cause unwanted effects.

Common side effects can include nausea, diarrhoea, dizziness, rash and yeast infections.

Some people can also develop more serious reactions, including severe allergic reactions.

There is no reason to expose yourself to these risks when the antibiotic is not actually needed.

The problem becomes more concerning when a person chooses an antibiotic without knowing whether it is suitable for the illness, the appropriate dose or whether they have any reason to avoid the medicine.

Some antibiotic-related complications can also require medical attention. Severe diarrhoea, for instance, can sometimes be associated with Clostridioides difficile infection, which can cause significant illness. This is why antibiotics should not be treated as ordinary medicines that can be taken whenever someone feels unwell.

Unnecessary antibiotic use can contribute to antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria develop the ability to survive medicines that are designed to kill them or stop their growth. When this happens, infections caused by resistant bacteria can become more difficult to treat.

Every unnecessary use of an antibiotic creates an opportunity for bacteria to be exposed to the medicine when it is not needed. The problem is not that a person’s body becomes resistant to the antibiotic. Rather, the bacteria can develop resistance. This distinction is important because people sometimes misunderstand antibiotic resistance as the body is becoming immune to medicine.

Resistance can affect treatment when a person later develops a bacterial infection that genuinely requires antibiotics. It is therefore important to reserve antibiotics for situations where they are actually needed and to use them exactly as prescribed.

Taking antibiotics without proper assessment can also delay the discovery of what is actually causing an illness. A person may notice that symptoms change after starting an antibiotic and assume that the medicine is working.

However, a change in symptoms does not necessarily mean that the underlying condition has been properly treated.

If the illness requires another type of treatment, continuing to take an unsuitable antibiotic may waste valuable time.

For some conditions, early medical assessment is important because treatment depends on identifying the cause.

A person who repeatedly treats symptoms with antibiotics without finding the underlying problem may continue experiencing the same illness.

This can lead to repeated self-medication instead of proper investigation. The situation is particularly concerning when symptoms persist, become worse or return repeatedly. Such symptoms should not simply lead to another course of antibiotics bought without professional advice.

Another danger is taking the wrong dose or using an antibiotic for the wrong length of time.

Antibiotics are prescribed according to factors such as the infection being treated, the medicine selected and the individual patient’s circumstances. Taking too little, taking too much or using the medicine incorrectly can affect treatment.

People who self-medicate may also use an old prescription from a previous illness. However, the medicine, dose and duration that were appropriate for a previous infection may not be appropriate for a new illness.

Using someone else’s antibiotics creates an additional problem because the medicine may have been selected for a completely different condition. It may also be unsuitable for the person taking it.

Leftover antibiotics should not be kept for future illnesses and should not be shared with another person.The safest approach is to use an antibiotic only when it has been recommended for the illness and to follow the instructions given by the prescribing healthcare professional.

Key players in Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, African Pharmaceutical Distribution Association (APDA) and the

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