Finishing your drugs may be putting your in serious danger.
However, a new study done by British infectious disease experts, concludes that doctors should not advise patients to finish their antibiotic dose as it could be causing the rise of drug resistant infections.
According to expert, Martin Llewelyn, stopping antibiotics earlier is not as damaging as their unnecessary intake.
"We encourage policy makers, educators, and doctors to stop advocating' that one should complete the course' when communicating with the public... Further, they should publicly and actively state that the idea of completion is not based on evidence and is incorrect. "
The study discovered links between treatment duration and effectiveness, and drug resistance. In their conclusion, there was no evidence for the idea that shorter treatment is inferior or will trigger antibiotic resistance.
It says, "When a patient takes antibiotics for any reason, antibiotic sensitive species and strains among (microorganisms) on their skin or gut or in the environment are replaced by resistant species and strains ready to cause infection in the future."
The longer the antibiotic exposure, the bigger the foothold resistant species will gain. These resistant strains can be transmitted directly between people who have no symptoms of illness.
Experts who were not involved in the research also approved the theory.
Immune systems and antibiotics
There are times, however, where completion of antibiotic doses are recommended. In cases where the patient has a weak immune system that increases the risk of recurrence of an infection.
The general idea is to reduce the bacteria burden to a level that can be coped with by one's immune system, the current amount of antibiotic prescribed is too high to be sustainable.
Medication may also be extended if the bacteria are slow growing or can lie dormant before striking.