Giving antibiotics to children “for safety” is not a good idea

If you are parents, you have already experienced it: faced with your child’s discomfort, his pain, or the fever induced by an infection, you would often like a magic remedy to avoid this hassle. However, as health authorities often point out, antibiotics do not cure your child in the majority of cases. A new article nourished by the reflections of American pediatricians on the site Healthline recalls the reasons for curbing this dangerous attitude.

Antibiotics are simply useless against bacteria

If the French slogan still resonates in our heads (“Antibiotics are not automatic”) in fact, these are still sometimes prescribed to treat a pathology that “could get infected” especially in children.

“Antibiotics are only useful against the bacteria that make us sick, but for the majority of children, viruses are the culprit”, said Dr. Mark Brockman, pediatrician at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky. This already represents a problem of targeted efficiency.

“Antibiotics don’t work against viruses because of the specific way antibiotics work against bacteria” he recalls, while pediatricians sometimes prescribe antibiotics before knowing the true source of a disease, for reasons such as the age of the child or the severity of their symptoms.

“Furthermore, starting antibiotics to prevent bacterial infection is only warranted in very rare cases, so in an otherwise healthy child who has a probable viral infection, antibiotics should not be used”he continues.

Also, not all antibiotics work on all types of bacteria.

Above all, this reminder reminds us of a crucial point: antibiotics are not innocuous products and can cause more harm than good in the long term. A gift you don’t want to give to your child. Doctors mention 3 risks to remember:

• Antibiotics can have unintended consequences, such as nausea or diarrhea. Other more serious results such as anaphylaxis or an allergic reaction are possible;
• Improper or overuse of antibiotics can also damage the gut microbiome and make room for more invasive and dangerous bacteria or fungi. “Antibiotics will not only target the harmful bacteria causing the infection, but can also kill healthy gut bacteria that promote good digestion and maintain overall health” declares the article.
• When the body lacks healthy bacteria, potentially deadly bacteria, such as C. difficile (C.diff), which affects the gut and colon, can grow rapidly and lead to death in the most severe cases.

Finally, antibiotic resistance is one of the most serious threats to global health, food security and development today, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Thus, by using unnecessary antibiotics, antibiotic resistance can occur when bacteria and fungi change in such a way that they acquire the ability to defeat antibiotics designed to kill them.

“This means that other, more potent antibiotics must be used, which also leads to the potential for resistance to those antibiotics. This usually requires hospitalization, and in some cases older patients die from overwhelming infections.” panic the doctors.

France is also affected by this threat: the latest figures suggest around 5,500 deaths per year attributed to infections with multi-resistant bacteria.

When to give an antibiotic to a child? In France too, the reminder is necessary

The alert is of course also valid in France where the prescription of antibiotics is quite high. “Although we must recognize a clear reduction for 15 years in antibiotic prescriptions thanks to government campaigns, but also thanks to the pneumococcal vaccine 13 which has reduced bacterial infections and therefore the reasons for prescribing antibiotics” recalls Dr. Andreas Werner, pediatrician and president of the Afpa (the French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics.)

Despite everything, it still happens too regularly for the pediatrician to see children who have been put on antibiotics, when this is not necessary:

For many parents, often still, an antibiotic means that the children will recover quickly and return to work will also be faster.

“But that’s forgetting that it’s useless, since the majority of infections are of viral origin; Obviously, it is not a question of missing out on a bacterial infection, but now we still have the means of verifying this “. Therefore, it is often recommended to wait at least 24 to 48 hours while monitoring the child, to see if the symptoms get worse or get better on their own.

In accordance with the reminder of American pediatricians, Dr Werner also reminds that today there are several tools to be carried out in the office to differentiate in a few minutes a viral infection from a bacterial infection, in the case of angina for example , and not give in to overuse of antibiotics:

• Rapid diagnostic orientation tests (TROD) to be tested directly in the throat;
• A rapid test from a drop of blood taken from the finger;
• A urine strip that one can use instantly too.

If after a test and according to your pediatrician your child actually requires treatment with antibiotics, the Ameli site also reminds you of the rules for the proper use of these treatments:

• Respect the dose, the frequency of doses and the duration of your antibiotic treatment, according to what is mentioned on the prescription;
• Do not use your treatment for anyone else. A treatment is specifically prescribed for such type of infection and adapted to each person;
• Ask your doctor for advice if you think you are having an adverse effect from your treatment (rash, nausea, etc.);
• Do not stop your treatment prematurely, even if your condition improves. You must take the antibiotic for the prescribed duration;
• Once the treatment is finished, do not reuse an antibiotic, even if you have symptoms that resemble those you had previously;
• At the end of the treatment, return to your pharmacist all boxes that have been opened or not used.