Coughs, runny noses, sore throats, and earaches are an inevitable part of life with young children. But a survey suggests that some parents greatly overestimate how much prescribing antibiotics for children will help.
In the survey, researchers at Bond University in Queensland, Australia asked 400 parents with children aged 12 and younger about when it was appropriate to use antibiotics for common upper respiratory illnesses. Their responses, published in the Annals of Family Medicine, indicated that most parents think antibiotics help to cure a cough (55 per cent), sore throat (70 per cent), and ear infection (92 per cent).
The Bond University researchers note that primary-care doctors may resort to antibiotics for several reasons. Almost half the physicians believed that the pressure to obtain better scores prompted inappropriate prescribing, including unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics.
They may not be certain if an infection is caused by a virus or a bacterium, for example, and prescribe an antibiotic “just in case.” Or they may want to get through an appointment quickly and satisfy worried parents.
Likewise in Nigeria, abuse of antibiotics abuse among mothers is also high. Treatment of upper respiratory tract infection among children is also characterized by the unnecessary use of unprescribed antibiotics. Several contributing factors are evidently associated with these both at the patient’s level and doctor’s level.
An observational study carried out at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), Enugu in 2014, for instance, puts the prevalence of unprescribed antibiotics in children less than 5 years in the care of upper respiratory tract infection at 75.9%.
The study, which involved 423 children below 5 years and their caregivers seen at the paediatric outpatient clinic of ESUTH, Enugu, found also that the antibiotics abuse was commoner in older children with upper respiratory tract infection and among mothers with higher educational attainment. But it was least in children less than 11 months.
The researchers, in the Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, stated that the commonest reason for this abuse was the availability of the drugs over-the-counter in 42.4% of cases.
They added, “parents with high socioeconomic status and high education level are more likely to request antibiotics because they believe that antibiotics treat upper respiratory tract infections faster, thus reducing the time taken off work.”
These misconceptions about what antibiotics can cure are common among Nigerian parents because it is assumed that antibiotics are effective against viral infections and can help children to recover faster or reduce the risk of complications. However, these beliefs about what antibiotics can remedy are not true.
DrAyotundeFasunla, an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, says that most respiratory infections such as bronchitis, colds, ear infections, and sinus infections in both children and adults are caused by viruses, not bacteria, and as such symptoms alone are not a good indicator of whether a person with a respiratory infection will need antibiotics.
Although often people resort to antibiotics, thinking that it would cure most respiratory infections, shorten the duration of the viral illness or reduce the chances that it will develop into something worse, he stated that this is only applicable when these infections are due to bacteria.
He added, “Doctors would only prescribe antibiotics for most respiratory infections, including colds and ear infections if, alongside the infection, the individual has other symptoms suggestive of a superimposed bacterial infection or other complications.”
Meanwhile, the Bond University researchers point out that it’s never a good idea to prescribe an antibiotic to a child when it’s not needed because the drugs commonly can cause unpleasant side effects such as diarrhoea, nausea, thrush, allergic reactions, vomiting, and a rash. And more rarely, they cause more serious harm.
A recent study from the CDC revealed that side effects from antibiotics, most commonly severe allergic reactions, are responsible for more than 65,000 children being rushed to the emergency department unit every year. For children younger than 5, side effects from antibiotics such as amoxicillin and azithromycin are the leading causes of emergency department unit visits due to adverse drug effects.
What’s more, overuse of these drugs is contributing to the rise of dangerous superbugs—strains of bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. A result is a growing number of infections that are more virulent and much harder to treat.
All that said, no parent likes to watch their child suffering or in pain. So instead of requesting an antibiotic, parents should ask how they can help their child feel better. In fact, global health experts warn that antibiotics should be limited to an average of less than nine daily doses a year per person in a bid to prevent the rise of these untreatable superbugs.
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