Cough: avoid antibiotics

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Extract from the article: Coughing is a protective mechanism designed to expel mucus, germs or irritants from the respiratory tract. After a cold or flu, it is also normal for the production of mucus to cause a ‘deep’ cough. Chest pain when coughing is normal, since coughing

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Coughing is a protective mechanism designed to expel mucus, germs or irritants from the respiratory tract. After a cold or flu, it is also normal for the production of mucus to cause a ‘deep’ cough. Chest pain when coughing is normal, since coughing involves the whole chest (bones and muscles).

In most cases, the cough disappears spontaneously after a few days. Antibiotic treatment is useless in most cases, and can even be harmful.

Here's why: ‘Antibiotics are generally of no use for acute coughs. They don't make it go away any faster. The most common lower respiratory tract infections are caused by viruses on which antibiotics have no effect. Respiratory infections caused by bacteria generally disappear quickly. Research has shown that antibiotics can only reduce the duration of the illness by about a day, for a total duration of 3 to 4 weeks’, explains Dr Jean-Claude Bakpatina, General Practitioner at the Floréal clinic (Lomé). Antibiotics are only indicated if the symptoms do not disappear after a few weeks, or if they worsen, he stresses. They can also be useful for less common causes of cough, such as pneumonia and specific bacterial infections.

On the other hand, ‘antibiotics can be harmful. Indiscriminate administration of antibiotics leads to a bacterial resistance mechanism: over time, bacteria develop defences against these drugs, making them less effective, both personally and on a population scale. Taking antibiotics reduces the natural resistance to infection’, explains Dr Jean-Claude Bakpatina, General Practitioner.

Antibiotics can have unpleasant side effects, including diarrhoea, skin rash, malaise and, in rare cases, more serious effects such as loss of consciousness.

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