The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday released an advisory urging people to avoid taking antibiotics like Azithromycin and Amoxiclav. The advisory signed by Dr Sharad Kumar Agarwal, National President, IMA, and other members has said that taking antibiotics when there is no requirement of it, leads to antibiotic resistance.
"Whenever there will be a real use of antibiotics, they will not work due to resistance," the doctors' body has said.
"Most of the cases are H3N2 influenza virus"
"There is a sudden increase in the number of patients having symptoms of cough nausea, vomiting, sore throat, fever, body ache and diarrhoea in some cases. The infection usually lasts for about 5 to 7 days. The fever goes away at the end of three days, but the cough can persist for up to three weeks. As per information from NCDC, most of the cases are H3N2 virus," the association has said.
The association says that it is common to have seasonal colds or coughs during October to February because of Influenza and other viruses.
Antibiotic resistance is a problem
"Several other antibiotics are being misused for certain conditions and are developing resistance among patients. For instance, 70% of diarrhea cases are viral diarrhoea, for which antibiotics are not needed, but are being prescribed by doctors," it said.
It also says how random use of azithromycin and ivermectin during COVID has led to resistance among the population.
The IMA urges doctors and the public to diagnose whether the infection is bacterial or not before prescribing antibiotics.
