Antibiotics cannot stop you getting flu

This advice comes from NHS East Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) ahead of European Antibiotics Awareness Day on 18 November.

Experts say if patients decide to self-medicate and use antibiotics when they are not needed, the bacteria causing the illness can build up resistance. This means those antibiotics will not work to treat illnesses in the future and there are very few new antibiotics in the development pipeline. By not using them unnecessarily, they are more likely to work when we need them.

Resistance is also caused when antibiotics are not taken for the fully prescribed course. Taking only a partial course of antibiotics means bacteria will be exposed to the antibiotic but are not given a strong enough course to kill them, resulting in the bacteria surviving and replicating. Consequently, future strains may be more likely to mutate and develop resistance. A survey found that a quarter of people who are prescribed antibiotics don’t finish the prescribed course.