Explain why patients who r treated with antibiotics r always advised 2 take a complete course of treatment, rather than stop the treatment as soon as soon as they feel better.
2006-10-21 22:30:15 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Well the answer is:-
1. To kill the bacteria completely cause we are trying to kill billions of bacteria and even if some are left, they might just revive the infection.
2. To prevent resistant bacteria from spreading. Well, antibiotics cause some changes in the plasmids of bacteria which tend to make them resistant to the antibiotics the patient is currently using, thus if the intake is stopped before the complete course than there is a gr8 chance of bacteria becoming resistant to that generation(strenght) of antibiotics and spread to other people. That is why penicillin used 40 years ago is not used today.
2006-10-22 01:39:30 · answer #1 · answered by vegeta_gr8 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let me put it in a simple way. All living beings have a tendency to get accustomed to the prevailing external condition.This will happen very slowly.
Let us take an example. Let there be 100(remember they will be multiplying) bacteria in a patient having throat infection. The doctor may administer 9 or 12 antibiotics at a dosage of 3 tablets per day.
After one day course let us take that 25-30% of the bacteria die. The remaining 75-70% bacteria will not die but will start feeling the effect of antibiotics. when second day course of antibiotics are taken some more will die and the remaining will still be present and will slowly start developing resistance to the antibiotic. but when a full course of antibiotic is taken the dosage becomes lethal to the bacteria and they dont get a chance to escape from the drug and develop resistant.
It means that all the 100 bacteria should be killed. If even a single bacterium escapes from the drug then it will develop resistance against the drug and this drug resistant bacterium will start multiplying.
Subsequently when u get an infection later on after a period of time, then the the drug that was initially used to treat throat infection will not work for the second time becos this time it is caused by a drug resistant one. This is a serious issue to be taken into account. Most of the multi drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a result of improper antibiotic dosage.
Most of the public is unaware of this fact and they take an insufficient dosage of antibiotics. This is the important reason for the development of Multi Drug Resistant(MDR) strains.
Hope this answer is convincing.
Good luck!
2006-10-24 05:08:02 · answer #2 · answered by green 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's all actually about evolution.
When you take antibiotics they either kill the bacteria (bactericidal antibiotics) or they stop them replicating (bacteriostatic antibiotics).
As you take the drug more and more of the bacteria die. However, bacteria divide very quickly and so evolutionary selective pressure, acts on bacteria MUCH, MUCH faster than multicelled organisms.
Just by chance some of the bacteria will happen to have mutations that reduce the effectiveness of the drug. Once you've taken some of the drug you've killed off the competition for these mutant bacteria and they have much more opportunity to multiply, develop more mutations and become completely resistant to the drug.
So when you take the drug for a partial course you may kill enough of the bacteria to cure the symptoms. But unless you take it for a full course you allow the bugs to become resistant to the antibiotic, and the infection may recur OR the next time you need a course of antibiotics the bacteria may well not respond to it at all.
Hope that helps.
2006-10-21 23:06:23 · answer #3 · answered by the last ninja 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In order to kill the bacteria in the body completely as the bacteria could mutate during the time a patient feels better and thus inactive. If the patients stop taking the antibiotics, then when these bacteria multiply enough, they will again affect the patients' health. This is why we are always advised to take a full course rather than stopping halfway.
2006-10-22 00:17:34 · answer #4 · answered by mad_integer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just because you start to feel better, you should still take all of your medication because you haven't killed off all the bacteria yet. Now the remaining bacteria have an immunity to the antibiotics that youre currently taking and it can replicate. Then of course, you'll have to get much stronger antibiotics..
2006-10-22 02:38:20 · answer #5 · answered by DestinationUNKNOWN 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bacteria can multiply fast so it can mutate fast. I guess they're affraid tiny number of mutated ones might make come back if not fully treated.
2006-10-21 23:01:51 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
most medicines have to be taken till their full dose becoz first 2-3 doses kill the bacteria but remaining doses kill any lurking bacteria which may attack again... and u r not advised to take the full dose at one go too becoz body can absorb only a specific amt each time
2006-10-21 22:33:50 · answer #7 · answered by vrborn2njoy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To eradicate the disease causing organism completely.
2006-10-21 22:42:42 · answer #8 · answered by Meeto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋