Why should you take an antibiotic for the full time the doctor recommends?

Question

Please include your reference and/or degrees.

Thanx

xxxooo

Answer 1

If you take the antibiotic only for the time it takes until you feel better most likely not all bacteria in your body have been killed. At that point you decreased the number of bacteria substantially, but all bacteria which are still alive are the ones which have a higher tolerance for your antibiotic. If you stop using your antibiotic at this point (too early), those bacteria will not get killed, and you generated a strain of bacteria with higher tolerance against antibiotics in your body. Which is not a good idea. Because once those bacteria will make you sick again, the next time you use the antibiotic it will be less effective and you could even create an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria.

Answer 2

As was previously stated, there is an increasing fear of multiple-drug resistant bacteria. When you take antibiotics only for a short time, you kill off only the weakest bacteria. Basically, you are performing "natural selection" through artificial means :). So then, since the bacteria have not been doused with the lethal dose they start developing resistance to the antibiotic in question. The process is analogous to a human getting a vaccine. Then, since prokaryotes (bacteria) are not limited by the same laws of procreation as animals, they are likely to transfer this resistance gene to other strains. Pretty soon you get resistant bacteria which cannot be killed off by ANY antibiotic.

When your doctor tells you to take the drugs for a particular length of time, it is a known and researched fact of how long each particular antibiotic needs to provide a lethal dose to the bacteria in your system and not cause your own flora (bacterial population) TOO much harm. Thats what all the pharmaceutical research out there is about.

Answer 3

Don't need a degree here:

Scientists have done NUMEROUS studies proving the effectiveness of antibiotics in killing bacteria.

However, if you don't complete the entire course of medication, the chance that ALL of the bacteria have been killed is diminished. If you have a recurrence of the infection from this now resistant strain of bacteria, you will be less likely to be able to fight the infection with the antibiotic a second time.

Don't believe me? Check my answer by calling ANY pharmacy ANYwhere. They'll tell you exactly the same thing.

Answer 4

you need to take the full course to completly destroy the bacteria,you may feel better after a day or two but the infection is only dormant stop the antibiotics now and they grow back as superbugs that will be resistant to that particular antibiotic next time

Answer 5

I had to take anti-biotics for a sinus infection. I took them and started getting bettter. I felt fine so i quit taking the anit-biotics. I didn't take long for the infection to return. It returned because i didn't continue to take the medicine to kill off all the infection and bacteria.

I had to go back to the doctor and Dr. Hudson told me that the reason for taking the medicine was because it is killing bacteria. Anti-biotics are the only way to kill bacteria. Once you take anti-ibotics, you begin to feel better and so you never end up taking all the medicine. She said it is important to take it all becuase if you don't take all your anti-biotics then the infection will keep coming back. And it will be harder and harder to fight off every time it comes back.
I took all of the ammoxicilin.
She was right. I know i take all my anti-biotics now.

Hopefully this helps you to understand.

Answer 6

it takes time to kill the bacteria that got you sick so the doc fugues that it will take that amount of antibiotic at that dosage to wipe it out, and then you can live a normal life without that infection

Answer 7

The reason why is because despite the fact that you may be feeling better, the bacteria is still in your system and can rapidly grow once you stop and even become resistant if you try to retake it because it would have progressed.