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SALT LAKE CITY — With cold and flu season in full swing, chances are you've already paid a visit to the doctor once or twice.
But concern over unnecessary or inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue new guidelines about when and if drugs should be prescribed for respiratory infections, according to Today.
The new recommendations, developed with help from the American College of Physicians, also seek to curb the issue of drug-resistant bacteria — which is responsible for 23,000 deaths in the U.S. annually, according to Medscape Medical News.
When an antibiotic is unnecessarily prescribed, the body can develop a resistance to the treatment. Additionally, the side effects can be dangerous.
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"Antibiotics are a leading reason for emergency room visits for drug side effects, responsible for one of every five visits," CDC lead author Aaron M. Harris told Medscape.
Those side effects include allergic reactions, diarrhea and super infections.
Of the 100 million prescriptions written for adults during outpatient visits each year, 41 percent are for respiratory infections. But the CDC estimates half of those prescriptions are not necessary.
The guidelines focus on four different acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs).
Strep throat and pneumonia
- Clinicians should refrain from prescribing antibiotics to patients diagnosed with bronchitis unless they suspect and confirm bacterial pneumonia as well.
- Patients with suspected strep throat should only receive antibiotics if strep is confirmed by testing.
- Doctors should take steps to correctly identify which bacteria is responsible for the infection before prescribing a specific drug
Sinus infections
- Traditionally, antibiotics are prescribed to help treat most sinus infections. But the new guidelines suggest most infections will go away without treatment
- Antibiotics should only be prescribed in cases where symptoms are present for more than 10 days, if you have a fever of 102.2 or higher, if you have nasal discharge and severe facial pain for longer than three days or if you begin to feel worse when you thought you were getting better
The common cold
- Antibiotics should not be prescribed
- Other drugs, such as cough drops, acetaminophen, anti-inflammatories and aspirin can help ease symptoms
- See a doctor if symptoms persist for more than two weeks
The guidelines were published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.