The hay day of penicillin as the cure-all for everything is gone. In fact, penicillin is not effective for the treatment of many bacterial infections today. The reason being is those like other organisms, bacteria have changes in their structure to defeat the effect of penicillin.
The real story behind this is that not only penicillin is no longer useful, but many other antibiotics are also ineffective. The history behind this problem is multifactorial.
1. Antibiotics are ordered when they are not appropriate. The use of antibiotics does not impact viral infections like the flu and colds. Unfortunately, they are still requested by healthcare providers as a convenience to patients who demand them.
2. Antibiotic dosages are not entirely consumed. When the person feels better, they stop taking the antibiotic. What that does is helps make the bacteria immune to the drug.
3. Antibiotics kill good bacteria as well as infectious bacteria. Each of us has biome, healthy bacteria in our body. Once the balance of that biome is upset, healthy bacteria can grow to replace the imbalance, and they in excess can be disease causing. Hospitals are full of bacteria. No matter how much we try to alleviate all them, they are always around us. Each of us has our own biome that we bring to the hospital whether a healthcare worker, patient or visitor.
The best way to manage the spread of infection is simply soap and water. When you visit someone who is ill regardless of where they are, wash your hands when you enter and when you leave. Because they are sick, their resistance to new infectious agents may be lowered, so they are more likely to get an infection from a bacteria that is not harmful to the visitor. Wash your hands well and often.
A good rule of thumb is to wash with soap and water as you say the words to 'Happy Birthday'. This is an adequate length of time to rid the hands of bacterial contaminants. No special soap is necessary. Just use good friction and enough water to wash the organisms off your hands. You can be a disease fighter. We need your help as a society and healthcare setting. It is easy, but so easy to ignore.
Many people don't realize that antibiotics don't work for colds and the flu. Contact me if you want to learn more about what antibiotics can and can't cure.