By By Tina Romito

Whether it is a runny nose, sore throat or a neverending cough, antibiotics seem to be the solution. At the first sign of sickness, most rush to a doctor to try and get a quick fix prescription. That is, if they don’t already have a stock of leftover antibiotics waiting to be used.

However, antibiotics are not the always answer and can actually cause more harm than good if taken without a doctors consent, according to health and biology experts.

“It’s a good topic [antibiotic resistance] for anyone with kids,” Dr. Joanne Willey, a University biology professor, said.

Willey held a discussion last month entitled, “How Miracle Drugs Create Menacing Microbes: The Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance in Disease-Causing Bacteria.” The lecture featured an in-depth analysis regarding bacteria and antibiotics. Willey also touched upon the reasons why bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics and the steps people should take to slow down this resistance.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), children typically have the highest resistance rates and the largest amounts of antibiotic consumption, age group studies say.

Willey also suggests that antibiotic and medical knowledge is important for anyone, since at one point every person catches a cold or becomes ill.

According to an article written by Daniel K. Hoh, many doctors claim that unnecessary prescriptions are written because patients are pushy, believing that antibiotics will relieve their ailments. As a result, people overusing antibiotics develop bacteria that are resistant to that particular medicine, causing it to be useless when the person really needs it.

“We are very well aware of the overuse of antibiotics,” Maureen Houck, director of the Hofstra Wellness Center, said.

Houck mentioned that many students do in fact ask for prescriptions when they have an appointment. The Wellness Center sees about 200-300 patients a week, with 7,000 patients recorded last year. Houck noted that most people expect to receive some sort of remedy when they visit their off-campus doctor, especially since the visit alone costs so much money.

“We don’t have that constraint here [since the Wellness Center is free for students], we strongly encourage patients to consider utilizing other means than antibiotics,” revealed Houck on the practices in the Wellness Center.

During Willey’s discussion, she stated that antibiotics are only for particular illnesses. They are definitely not intended for the common cold, flu, some ear and sinus infections or most sore throat symptoms. Antibiotics are used to kill bacteria, not the common cold or other viruses, only antiviral drugs help kill viruses. A runny nose and yellow or green mucus do not necessarily indicate that a patient needs antibiotics, according to familydoctor.org.

Strep throat, urinary tract infections and some ear and sinus infections are illnesses that require antibiotics, Dr. Vincent Iannelli stated on pediatrics.about.com. The only way the doctor can determine if the patient has any of these bacterial infections is to perform a test or culture, Willey said.

If you are currently taking an antibiotic, make sure to finish the entire bottle because stopping in the middle of a prescription can be harmful. A prescription should be completed even if the patient is feeling better. Any unused antibiotics should always be thrown away, not stored for future use.

Antibiotics should be taken for the full duration to kill all the harmful bacteria present. If the intake is cut short, some of the bacteria may survive, possibly evolving into new, more resistant bacteria.

At this point, the medicine won’t be able to kill off the new strain of evolved bacteria, since it’s now resistant to that particular antibiotic. Penicillin is an antibiotic whose effectiveness is waning, causing it to be unable to fight off particular strains of bacteria due to misuse and overuse. The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is an example of a disease that is resistant to penicillin.

The individuals who misuse antibiotics are not the only ones in danger of acquiring the new bacteria. These new strains are able to spread to people they come in contct with.

According to Houck at the Wellness Center, when students get sick they should begin recovery by following the advice that most parents give: get a lot of rest, drink a lot of fluids, and eat soup.

Willey, who creates antibiotics in her science lab, said in order to ensure a more accurate diagnosis, people have to take the responsibility to request a culture to be taken at their doctor’s office before any antibiotics are prescribed. For example, the doctor should take a throat culture if the person’s throat is bothering them before actually making a judgment as to what antibiotic is needed, if any.

In a 2000 study, the CDC examined the percentage of prescriptions written, versus the percentage that were unnecessary. Every prescription given for the common cold was unnecessary. Only half the prescriptions written for sore throat and sinusitis were necessary.

Another part of the problem is the constant low dosage of antibiotics administered to farm animals to promote growth and production. According to the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, more than half the antibiotics in this country are used in agriculture for non-therapeutic purposes. The antibiotics are used to prevent disease and infection because, on many farms, the animals live in densely populated areas that are, at times, unsanitary. These antibiotics are also sprayed onto crops to prevent bacterial blemishes and spoilage.

“All the beef and all the milk you buy, unless it says ‘antibiotic-free’ has some sort of antibiotic,” Willey said.

With details like this, it may seem difficult to really prevent the antibiotic resistance of bacteria, since according to Willey, we consume some antibiotics on an almost daily basis. Yet there are alternatives. Organic products offer a substitute to these meats, poultry, fruits and vegetables that contain traces of antibiotics. Foods and beverages with the organic seal promise that no antibiotics are utilized on the animals or crops that were used in their processing.

Although antibiotics are becoming resistant because of misuse and overuse, they are still effective and necessary. Willey explained that about 100 years ago, half of the deaths in the U.S. were due to infectious diseases. Since our country has made advances in antibiotic research and creation, currently only five percent of deaths are due to infectious diseases. The turnaround, Willey explains, is because of antibiotics.

Even so, there are still people and doctors who contribute to the misuse of antibiotics.

“Everybody needs to realize that this problem’s never going to go away,” Willey said, “and start to act responsibly.”

Writing prescriptions without conducting a proper test or culture can lead to unnecessary use of anitibiotics. (Tina Romito/The Chronicle)