Doctors warn against indiscriminate antibiotic use amid monsoon illnesses

Amid a spike in monsoon-related illnesses, doctors have said people should avoid self-medication with antibiotics as fever does not automatically mean a bacterial infection and that indiscriminate use of the drugs can contribute to antimicrobial resistance.

Physicians stressed that fever is a symptom rather than a diagnosis and could be caused by viral infections, dengue, malaria, typhoid and several other conditions.

Treatment should be guided by the clinical assessment, duration of illness, associated symptoms and appropriate diagnostic investigations, wherever indicated.

"Patients frequently come to us after taking multiple medicines, including antibiotics, simply because they have developed fever.

Fever by itself is not an indication for an antibiotic.

The first step is to determine what is causing the fever " Dr Sujeet K Choudhary, Chief Medical Officer, Internal Medicine, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, said.

Antibiotics are designed to treat bacterial ...